Stephen King's IT: The Cinematic Cut

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9.7 (13)
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Stephen King's IT: The Cinematic Cut
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1990
Original Running Time:
180
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
160
Time Cut:
20
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
Seven children find each other as an ancient evil awakens to feed off their fear. They discover that only together can they hope to defeat it.
Intention:
So I set out to update the existing miniseries and turn it into a single feature without a segmented narrative. Minimize the downtime, and trim back wherever possible. I believe I have succeeded at tightening up the content, masking the special effects that did not hold up very well, and presenting the best possible version of the original content.
Other Sources:
IT (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Benjamin Wallfisch)
Special Thanks:
My family, Machiffet, Sinbad, and TheCuddlyNinja for the feedback that helped polish this edit.
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
Used Final Cut Pro X and Pixelmator. Watched the whole miniseries 3 or 4 times, taking notes about what things could be safely cut (that didn't set up or pay off anything later), then went scene-by-scene trimming bad (or badly delivered) dialog, irrelevant or overly heavy-handed moments, and special effects that don't stand up very well.
Cuts and Additions:
- New opening credits.
- Many new musical cues and sound effects throughout.
- Colour-graded the entire film.
- Cropped to 16:9 (and lovingly pan-and-scanned throughout)
- Removed Mike Hanlon's voiceover wherever it occurs.
- New establishing plates for all cities outside Derry.
- Bill & Audra's establishing scene is shortened.
- "Georgie & Pennywise" tightened up.
- Ben's awkward dialog with his date is removed.
- Ben's first encounter with IT tightened.
- Bev & Tom meeting the Japenese businessmen removed.
- Bev's "Call" removed.
- Tom's endless search for champaign is VERY tightened.
- Moved Eddie's 'revelation' from Mr. Keene to immediately after his adult character is established. This makes the payoff later more satisfying.
- Theater (I Was A Teenage Werewolf) scene tightened.
- Removed awkward "men or mice" line.
- Eddie's shower scene re-cut to heighten tension, add franticness, and hide poor visual effects.
- Removed Eddie's chaufer from the train scene. I mean… ugh.
- Adult Richie's establishing shot scaled WAY back because it adds nothing.
- Removed Richie's entire conversation with his agent. It was awful.
- Werewolf scene re-paced.
- Removed intervention of shop owner from the Hanlon/Bowers scene. Doesn't make sense that he would step in when it is later established that adults don't get involved.
- Rock fight scene got new foley, and dialog cuts.
- The daylight-is-fading-and-we-need-to-get-this-in-one-shot super-pan of the now complete Loser's Club changed to standard cuts.
- Bill's "Help Me" speech now 40% more inspirational!
- Adult Stan's "sex maniac" dialog and lingering shots of Perfect Strangers are cut.
- Stan's Mummy encouter added during the phone call with Mike.
- Vic Criss' encounter with the Deadlights tightened
- Deadlights have a custom lighting effect
- Henr*y whitehair is cut
- Eddie's "Battery Acid" is re-timed to make his intervention for Stan seem more "last-minute"
- The "Drain Incident" has been quick-cut to mask the poor effects somewhat without losing the sense of place or understanding what is happening.
- "Stan Found" has been recut for gradual discovery and to remove the total lack of blood in the opening shot.
- "Audra/Greco" moved to right after "Stan Found", but Greco is removed completely, it doesn't set up or pay off anything, so it's cut.
- The various "[Character] Arrives in Derry" scenes have been reordered.
- The "Bill & Mike Ride Silver" montage was cut because, honestly, it feels like filler.
- "Ben Helps Fellow Fat Kid" is cut because it was too convenient, and the new fat kid cannot act. At all.
- "Bev Returns Home": removed close-up of "MARSH" doorbell plate, because it was too obvious. Now it's more subtle, more of a detail that will reward repeat viewings.
- "Bev Returns Home": removed the "You're not real!" exchange by the closed door, makes it feel more like an escape and less like IT just allowed Bev to leave.
- Re-ordered the Library scene between Richie and Pennywise
- Trimmed down the "Dinner Montage" at the Chinese restaurant.
- Removed the image of Pennywise superimposed on the moon during "Wake Up, Henry". It is still implied that he sees Pennywise in the moon, but not shown directly.
- Trimmed the "Fortune Cookie" sequence to tighten it up a bit and mask some of the lesser effects.
- Cut A LOT of Harry Anderson's CLEARLY improvised comedy during the "Calling Stan" sequence.
- Re-cut Bill's re-telling of Stan's "Mummy Encounter" so we ONLY see flashbacks of things that Bill witnessed firsthand.
- Trimmed the part where Mike slams the prop fridge and it pops back open momentarily. That has bugged me since the 90s.
- Trimmed the Clown Dog from "Henry Escapes" and leaves the *how* nebulous, but implies that he used the switchblade given to him by It-as-Belch.
- Removed some of the hokey dialog from "Ben and Bev Kiss", but because of the single tracking shot (there are a LOT of those in this miniseries) I couldn't really do much with the "Why is it so mean?" mini-monologue.
- Bill's "I don't want to be scared anymore" speech is now 30% more inspirational!
- Re-cut the "Pennywise in the vines" monologue to hide the superimposed pennywise. We still see the Losers Club looking at a singular location, but what they actually see is not shown to the viewer.
- HEAVILY re-cut the final fight with IT in it's spider form. Removed almost all wide shots of the spider. Removed MOST of the close-ups. Basically tried to show as little of it as possible. While I think the practical spider looks pretty good, I think it's better to be less explicit, and allow each viewer to fill in the blanks on their own. Let the creature be more personal that way.
- The film now ends when the Losers Club emerge from the cave.
- Custom end credits (expanded from original, using IMDB to credit many more folks who went unrecognized in the original miniseries).
Trailer

User reviews

13 reviews
 
92%
 
8%
5-7 stars
 
0%
3-5 stars
 
0%
1-3 stars
 
0%
Overall rating
 
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.7(13)
Audio Editing
 
9.4(13)
Visual Editing
 
9.8(13)
Narrative
 
9.8(13)
Enjoyment
 
9.7(13)
View all user reviews View most helpful
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I write this review having revisited the edit recently, after first watching it around its release.

I am very pleased to say that the high quality I remembered from my first viewing was neither imagined nor unduly expanded by hindsight - this is an excellent presentation of the best elements of the 1990 miniseries, reworked with an eye towards more modern sensibilities.

There are one or two moments I noticed where the musical transitions where just abrupt enough to signal that something had been reworked there, but I'm almost certain those will be down to limitations of the source material. They are more than made up for by all the hard work that has gone into this edit. This is a permanent replacement for the original as far as I'm concerned.
T
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(Updated: October 25, 2023)
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
This was such a great way to watch this miniseries! I felt like even more than 20 minutes was cut because at no point was I bored or felt like it was dragging. In fact I couldn't believe only 20 minutes was missing! You tightened it up and kept all the important stuff while removing lots of filler and dated special effects.

I did notice one harsh audio cut at 1:53:11, but outside of that this edit is flawless.

Each character gets the love they deserve and the story feels warm and full of classic Stephen King life. Excellent work!

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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(Updated: February 24, 2023)
Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
8.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
There were a couple of instances where the cuts seemed jarring. The new music and sound effects were also too loud in comparison to the rest of the audio. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this edit very much.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
T
Top 500 Reviewer 17 reviews
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(Updated: February 01, 2023)
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
THEY FLOAT, GEORGIE. THEY ALL FLOAT!

This edit of the 1990 IT TV mini-series was SO good to watch. All of the power of the original series is preserved or improved upon and a vastly reduced number of jarring distractions are removed. The original TV series has a lot of great value, scare factor and great narrative for Stephen King's story but suffered from some clunky acting and special effects. I remember watching the original 1990 TV series version and finding the switch to 1985 really jarring, and noticeably more on a re-watch a few years back.
This edit fixes so much of that and the weaving between 1960 and 1985 works really well. as does the new framing, and the location title cards are a nice idea and I find this version makes it very clear which adult is portraying which child. The re-ordering of the scenes is amazing as is the edit and special effects that have been added. Even though nearly half an hour has been removed I didn't seem to notice any removals that detracted from the story and all of the best lines (I still laugh at Eddie's mom "you don't need friends, you just need your ma" ) and all the best scenes I remember were still in there too. I liked the soundtrack as well. The fear factor presented by Pennywise to the viewer is really amplified whilst maintaining his clown "charm" . His introduction is great too. Some occasional choices made in the original production can't be changed but this was such an enjoyable watch. I knew there was a great movie in there.
Conrad has made other changes here which are so seamless that the best compliment I can give is that I didn't have any overlong boring scenes or bad film-making which took me out the narrative like in the original edit. A thrill seeing this tightened and heightened edit. Very well done indeed.

I hope Tim Curry gets to see this version of IT, such a good actor. He really shines though. Loved the Pennywise nod with the balloon in the end credits! BEEP BEEP, RICHIE!

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
What a marked improvement of the original miniseries! Conrad MacIntyre succeeded in elevating the original cut with a theatric aspect ratio and darker, grimmer color palette. The narrative is tightened considerably without losing coherence. There were minor edits that pulled my from the film - fast cuts used when It attacks for example, do help to offer a more aggressive tone, but contrast with how the rest of the film is cut.

That's a minor nitpick however in an experience that now stands alongside other 80s horror in its horrifying offerings.

User Review

Format Watched?
Digital
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