It: Welcome to Derry: TV Review

The kids are not alright in this latest TV outing for Stephen King's Pennywise.

It's back to Derry and a world where racism is just below the surface, the nuclear arms race is underway and the children are being killed by monsters. So just your average middle America in many ways.

But whereas the It movies focused more on the generations terrified by Pennywise the malevolent clown, this latest deems it necessary to fully traumatise the children with repeated terrors. However, in the background, there's a story about airmen and a local US airbase which has a mission seemingly connected to what's going on in Derry.

It's fair to say that some of the gore early on in the season doesn't match the human horrors that play out - a pre-titles sequence for episode one is much stronger until the gore shows up and deeply upsetting without over emphasising the horror elements.

There's a psychological terror at play here that's more effective than some borderline campy visuals that feel in keeping with the 1980s Tim Cutty series of Pennywise. And there's some truly unsettling ideas of institutionalising children, where adults think the kids are natural liars - a story of innocence lost is infinitely more effective than some carnival-level OTT imagery. 

The old saying goes there's nothing to fear, but fear itself - and certainly that side of the story proves to be potent material in the third episode of the series, with more of a clearer picture emerging of what's actually going on and where the story is going.

Certainly with occasional jump scares, It: Welcome To Derry knows what it wants to achieve. But when it steers away from the carny schlock elements, there's a very intriguing expansion of the Pennywise universe. And it's in these moments that the series gives itself the validation that's needed.  All the elements do coalesce in time, but It: Welcome To Derry requires a bit of an investment to guide you through. And that's a lot to ask for a show that hides it's familiar face for much of the season.

To say it's a slow burn is an understatement, but if you give it time and be patient, It: Welcome To Derry will give you nightmares for weeks to come. If you can get past the comedic horrors that are played for chills, but raise titters.

It: Welcome To Derry premieres on Neon on October 27.