‘It: Welcome to Derry’ series premiere review: Horror comes back to town

Nothing is ever as it seems in the quiet town of Derry, Maine. HBO’s new chilling and spine-tingling horror series, It: Welcome to Derry, further cemented that theory. No one is safe when the creepy entities come out to play, specifically, the terrifying Pennywise the Clown.

The series premiere of It: Welcome to Derry, “The Pilot,” chronicles the start of a new series of horrific deaths, spotlighting the prequel before the events of the It movie series. And in the process, the premiere pulled the rug out from under us in a pleasantly fiendish and shocking twist.

A nightmare on Derry street.

Besides Pennywise, the first thing that comes to mind about Derry, Maine, is the theme of bizarre and supernatural deaths. Particularly, the deathly disappearances of Derry’s children. To kick off It: Welcome to Derry, that fateful victim comes in the form of Matty Clements, a hurt and alone kid who planned to run away. In Matty’s few scenes (and later, when people talked about him), you couldn’t help but feel bad for him.

Seriously, did anyone care for him? Between his “friends” being bribed with candy to go to his birthday party, and his feeling desperate enough to hitchhike out of Derry, it’s clear he didn’t feel loved or seen. And his constant sucking on a pacifier might’ve been his way of having a security blanket to help him through life. It’s no wonder the entity/Pennywise targeted him after the movie theater – he was practically afraid and alone. It: Welcome to Derry did a great job of fleshing out Matty’s character and making us feel sympathetic towards him.

For Matty, the creepy family seemed like the perfect trap. On the surface, they looked so innocent and caring – they offered something he may not have had before then. But after a few comments (and especially, the daughter grabbing the liver), that should’ve been enough to see the red flags. The car scene did a great job of amping up the tension and infusing gore. No one would’ve been able to act calm and avoid being scared, especially with the vampire bat baby. Matty’s days were numbered the second he got into that car.

The original Losers Club.

“The Pilot” did an amazing job of fleshing out the cast we thought we’d be following throughout It: Welcome to Derry Season 1. For instance, we learned about Phil (Jack Molloy Legault) and his love of conspiracy theories, as well as his tendency to believe in aliens more than the possibility of Matty being alive. Or that he’s a reluctant babysitter to his little sister, Susie. He’s all bravado and doubt, capturing many similarities to the sibling dynamic of Bill and Georgie from It.

And then there’s his best friend, Teddy (Mikkal Karim Fidler), a Jewish student who’s feeling guilty over not being a better friend to Matty before his disappearance. Teddy loves comic books, gets bullied, and wants to find his missing friend. To add to the twist, we even met his family, too, and how his feelings were being disregarded! “The Pilot” had a clear purpose: to get us to know these kids, their personalities, and how they felt about Matty. This was a clever structure ploy by It: Welcome to Derry. It was a successful tactic that landed its punch by the end of the episode (we’ll get to this shortly!).

Voices in the sewer.

Lilly’s (Clara Stack) backstory was the most interesting character development because of how unclear the truth had become. “The Pilot” made it clear that there were two truths: (1) what really happened to her dad, and (2) what everyone else believed. Like, there was no way that her dad’s severed body was in pickle jars around the state. There’s no chance, not even in 1962, for that pickle company to let that happen. But still, her classmates are horrible, monstrous people! Why would you pick on and make fun of a classmate whose dad was brutally and horrifically killed in a factory accident?!

And when a boy who liked Lilly was kidnapped/most likely murdered, the last thing you want to do is make her feel insane. She’s dealing with grief – the most sympathetic thing to do is show some empathy. But we have to remember they’re kids … and they’re kids in a 1962 middle school. Even her best friend, Marge, while not great, tried something to show and help Lilly. Don’t get me wrong, her bathroom comments were self-serving, but she did more than most people did at that school.

A scene-stealing killer.

The build-up to, and the subsequent cinema massacre were the starring moments of the series premiere. Did anyone see this coming? I truly thought we would be following this new ragtag group of friends: Phil, his sister Susie, Teddy, Lilly, and Ronnie (Amanda Christine), the daughter of the cinema’s projector operator. As mentioned above, “The Pilot” went to great lengths to flesh out the character, or at the very least, explain why they had a vested interest in finding Matty. Even newbie Ronnie wanted to clear up the rumors that her dad didn’t kidnap Matty.

But the true red-herring? The tears. How Teddy, Phil, and Lilly started crying in the darkness in the movie theater as they explained how they felt bad for letting Matty down. That moment exuded so much emotional heart and tears, a grounding tone to unify the group over their grief. It: Welcome to Derry knew exactly what they were doing.

Even when the vampire baby appeared, there was still hope that everything would be fine. A creature terrorizing the group? That’s nothing, an everyday occurrence in a paranormal horror TV show. But for the creature to tear away and rip the children’s bodies to shreds? Never saw it coming. Especially to little Susie! Picture the same tone as seeing Drew Barrymore getting killed in Scream, or the shower in Psycho, this cinema massacre will catch you off-guard if you’re not prepared, in all the best ways. Now we’re left wondering, how will Ronnie and Lilly deal with seeing three of their friends getting butchered in front of them?

A new arrival.

Elsewhere on “The Pilot,” there was the inclusion of Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) transferring to the Derry military base and dealing with horrific behavior. From a plot standpoint, the military segments didn’t fit into “The Pilot”. Between Matty’s disappearance and the group beginning their search, a lot was happening in Derry. So, from a structural and tonal choice, the segments didn’t connect to where the episode was leading for the kids.

If I’m theorizing, this plotline could play a bigger part in the season now that there are openings in the mystery-solving group. A story about one kid’s disappearance didn’t tie into a military plotline about plane schematics and an attempted kidnapping. However, if Major Hanlon’s kid were to join the friend group, or the schematics are part of a bigger Derry secret, that could weave both plotlines together nicely. We’ll have to see how this develops; for now, it seems too much of a mystery with few clues.

Overall.

“The Pilot” served as a strong start for this chilling and unnerving horror tale. While we didn’t see the infamous Pennywise the Clown, It: Welcome to Derry still served up plenty of tension-filled horrors to satiate our bloodlust. And in addition to the tension, “The Pilot” shone thanks to its strong character development and well-rounded characters. With realistic and likable characters, a strong script, and shocking twists, the series premiere of It: Welcome to Derry has plenty to get us excited for the rest of the season.

It: Welcome to Derry airs new episodes on Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on HBO.