Rupert and his two classmates—Harry and Jeremy—followed the crowd into the screening room.
The three excitedly found seats and sat down.
Soon, the lights in the theater dimmed, plunging the entire hall into darkness.
For this film, Martin toned down the gore from the original, ramping up the suspenseful horror atmosphere instead. Combined with his ability to immerse viewers in the story, the effect would undoubtedly be even more intense than the original.
It could be said that Martin's version of It had a far richer plot than typical horror films.
Because of that, it drew viewers into this extraordinary tale through the narrative, following the children's perspectives to uncover the town's deepest darkness and fears.
Right at the start of the movie, the clown's face suddenly emerged from the shadows in the sewer drain, eliciting gasps of shock throughout the theater.
Then, terrifying moments came one after another. In the film, besides the eerie and evil clown, each child's deepest fear often manifested vividly.
Whether it was Stanley facing the distorted-faced woman, Ben's fear of the headless man, Eddie's sight of the decaying zombie, Mike's vision of burned arms, or Bill's haunting memory of Georgie—viewers saw everyone's terrors.
And these horrors combined were what Meyers Films had compiled through big data companies as the things Americans feared most. Ah, these elements weren't just the characters' fears—they were the deepest, darkest secrets in the hearts of most people across North America, even the entire West. And those fears, in turn, became the audience's own.
At the same time, Anya's performance was utterly captivating.
This girl with an innocent, childlike face—pure features, a lithe figure, caught in that delicate space between girl and woman—and in the film, so assertive and brave, was absolutely the ultimate poison for all young boys.
For instance, Rupert, Harry, and Jeremy—the three had their eyes glued to the screen by Anya.
Whenever Anya appeared on screen, they stared unblinkingly at the big screen.
In fact, Anya's character, Beverly, had her role expanded significantly by the meddlesome Martin.
From a major supporting role in the original, she leaped to one of the most important characters in Martin's version.
She even rivaled the male lead, Bill.
Beverly entered with school violence and smoking, this "bad girl" image highlighting her more mature attributes.
In the "Losers' Club" group of seven, Beverly was undoubtedly the one who awakened earliest, and her story constantly reflected a girl's coming-of-age—
From buying her first sanitary pads, to seducing the pharmacist, to her heart fluttering at a love poem, to passionately kissing Bill...
This adolescent girl's alluring charm, radiating freely, made Beverly the most dazzling presence in the group of seven.
When Beverly first jumped into the water, laughing as she cut off her long hair—symbolizing femininity—to rebel against her father's oppressive dominance, an image of awakening through growth leaped vividly before everyone's eyes.
In the film, Beverly could be said to be the object of admiration for all the boys in the group of seven.
It was also her disappearance that prompted the kids to band together again for an adventure against the clown.
Compared to Beverly's blinding radiance, freely exuding adolescent girl charm, the protagonist Bill's story carried more sorrow.
At the film's opening, his brother Georgie was killed by the clown due to his carelessness, becoming Bill's deepest heartache.
It was this pain of losing a loved one that made Bill the most determined among the kids to destroy the clown.
Naturally, he became the group's leader.
Bill's fear, manifested by the clown in his eyes, was his deceased brother Georgie, revealing how Bill was immersed in the agony of losing his brother every moment.
When Bill asked the hallucinated brother "Does the boat sail faster?" the profound longing was vividly expressed in the dialogue.
He corrected the imagined brother's reference to the boat as "it," calling the boat "she" instead—and that dialogue was also his last conversation with Georgie, one he'd never forget.
Viewers were drawn into Bill's feelings for his brother too. When they heard him boldly declare before entering the haunted house, "This room holds my fear; I want to face my fear," the entire theater erupted in applause.
When Bill finally killed the Georgie manifested by the clown, another wave of gasps arose—the audience's pent-up emotions burst forth along with Bill's.
In the film, every child had some unfortunate experience behind them—domestic violence, school bullying, early loss of parents, and so on.
Freud believed that human nature is inherently mixed with desires and controlled by them, and childhood is the most crucial period shaping that nature.
In this film, Martin let the children's childhoods unfold in a nightmare of fear, maturing through confusion.
This was a movie about children.
While leaving a shadow of fear in the young viewers' minds, it also taught them the meaning of growing up.
The seven children, seven fears—at the final group beatdown of the clown, each faced their own terror, bravely confronting it, and together defeated the clown.
After each child overcame their fear, their lives would differ from before.
But at the same time, the film's ending told us that the world is never so simple—evil doesn't die easily; it would return in 27 years.
...
The path of life is the same—there are always things that disgust, repel, and terrify.
When the movie ended, the theater erupted in thunderous applause.
Martin took the main cast onstage to offer thanks.
Anya was thrilled, because many in the audience were calling her name—and if you listened closely, most were young boys who'd just hit puberty.
"I've been involved in many clown-related film projects, from the Batman Trilogy to Joker and now It. I know the character I've shaped has become a nightmare for many Americans."
Laughter.
"The clown image originally stemmed from the circus, meant to bring laughter to audiences. Exaggerated to the extreme, bold colors, oversized shoes, baggy pants, face smeared with paint, pale complexion, black-rimmed eyes..."
"The clown himself is tragic—a red nose from crying, exploded hair—but always wearing that fixed smile. Probably only then can he withstand the audience's laughter..."
"The clown's smile originates from a 1980s-90s British gang torture called the 'Glasgow smile'—using a knife to carve a grin. In our country's 1947 unsolved Black Dahlia case, the female victim suffered this torture."
"So the clown became synonymous with fear."
"What I want to convey is: don't fear it. Like the kids in the movie, you came to watch, felt the fear, and ultimately overcame it—then this film is a success."