IT: The 1990 Miniseries Ending Is Actually Better Than The Movies - Screen Rant

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While the 2017 and 2019 IT movies improved on the 1990 miniseries in many ways, the latter ultimately has a more satisfying ending. Over the years, it's become a well-known refrain that Stephen King, as great and successful a writer as he is, has a real problem crafting satisfying endings. Many of his best stories either seem to end without much fanfare or get too convoluted and hard to follow. King's IT novel is an example of the latter, boasting a metaphysical conclusion that was always destined to be unfilmable in full.

IT has so far been adapted twice, first as a 1990 ABC miniseries and more recently as a pair of theatrical movies in 2017 and 2019. Both adaptations have their strengths and weaknesses, and both feature Pennywise the Clown performances by Tim Curry and Bill Skarsgard, respectively, that are great in their own ways. Both also took their own best shots at adapting King's rather wild ending for the screen and met with varying levels of success.

Outside of Curry's Pennywise, though, most King devotees do seem to agree that the IT movies are overall closer to the spirit of the book, if only because they had more freedom to insert gory violence, foul language, and other adult content. Yet, IT Chapter Two is much less well regarded than IT 2017. A big reason for that is its ending, which while suitably loud and visually stimulating, introduces many of its own flaws with its interpretation of King's prose. So many in fact that, for all its faults, the ending of IT 1990 is actually better.

Stephen King's IT Has Never Received A Truly Great Ending

While he hasn't always been a favorite of book critics, Stephen King is one of the highest-selling authors of all time, has millions of devoted fans, and it's safe to say he is considered a master of horror by most. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, that mastery doesn't always extend to knowing how to best conclude his stories. IT is no exception, as the book's ending is overlong, overwrought, and takes what had been a simple battle between good and evil and turns it into a fight involving a giant cosmic turtle.

That's not to say IT's ending ruins the book by any means, as it's not necessarily awful in a vacuum; it just suffers compared to the amazing story King told on previous pages. Due to how out there King's written IT ending is, both the 1990 IT miniseries and 2019 movie IT Chapter Two attempt to keep some parts of it while jettisoning others. Some aspects of both filmed endings are good, and some are bad, but neither is as good as IT's story deserves. For whatever reason, it just seems like writers, whether they be King or various screenwriters, can't crack how exactly to craft a worthy conclusion to what had been a story so scary that it's liable to make the reader/viewer's blood run cold. Neither of the IT endings have been bad enough to make IT not worth watching or reading, but they can put a bit of a damper on the excitement one leaves with.

All The Problems With IT Chapter Two's Ending

In many ways, the IT movies are better than the 1990 miniseries adaptation. The bigger budget allows for more complex and extravagant scare set-pieces, lots of special effects used to create Pennywise's various transformations, and overall better actors playing the Losers' Club as adults. The ending, though, is arguably where IT Chapter Two almost entirely falls apart. After a movie full of jarring tonal shifts, the ending is too packed with sarcastic one-liners, IT's final form is a bit laughable, and worst of all is the Losers essentially defeating it by insulting the creature to death.

While the power of belief has always been a big part of King's IT story, especially since children are the monster's usual targets, the final fight between the Losers and Pennywise coming down to an insult barrage is a bizarre choice. In that respect, one wonders if this IT could be defeated by an angry internet comment section. Then to top the bad things off, IT Chapter Two's ending sees fit to include Stan's notoriously problematic suicide note, which attempts to spin Stan taking his own life into a heroic, necessary act. In a world where many people with mental illness teeter on the brink every day, painting suicide as a good thing is just downright irresponsible, but even with that aside, it entirely changes Stan's character arc. The fact that his friends smile while reading it is doubly as troubling.

Why The Miniseries Ending Is More Satisfying, Despite Its Own Flaws

When discussing anything about the 1990 IT miniseries' ending, it's all but required to address the elephant in the room: the absolutely dreadful looking giant spider that IT ends up turning into. The creature is part puppet, part stop-motion animation, and while a bit charming in a Ray Harryhausen-esque way, it's hard not to chuckle at. Yet, aside from that admittedly rather large flaw, the 1990 IT ending is more satisfying than the 2019 iteration. Sure, it has less of a budget to work with by far, but it is also much more to the point, less convoluted and tonally inconsistent, and doesn't try to turn Stan's suicide into a happy ending.

Beverly Marsh using her slingshot to hurt IT before the Losers chase it down and rip out its organs is also more satisfying and cathartic than Pennywise deflating from being called names. There's a lot less to the 1990 IT ending to be sure, and it's a lot less flashy, but as the old saying goes, less is sometimes more. The 2019 IT Chapter Two ending may have a lot of sound and fury on display, but that fury is mostly just bluster at the end of the day. A few genuinely great moments like Richie saying goodbye to Eddie, a struggle for dominance with oddly placed references to The Shining, and a tacked-on Ritual of Chud subplot that ends up meaning absolutely nothing to the story overall. When IT is inevitably adapted again, it'll be interesting to see if whoever writes the next version finally gets the ending fully right. Until then, there's always the HBO Max prequel, Welcome to Derry.

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Michael Kennedy (4380 Articles Published)

Michael Kennedy is an avid movie and TV fan that's been working for Screen Rant in various capacities since 2014. In that time, Michael has written over 2000 articles for the site, first working solely as a news writer, then later as a senior writer and associate news editor. Most recently, Michael helped launch Screen Rant's new horror section, and is now the lead staff writer when it comes to all things frightening. A FL native, Michael is passionate about pop culture, and earned an AS degree in film production in 2012. He also loves both Marvel and DC movies, and wishes every superhero fan could just get along. When not writing, Michael enjoys going to concerts, taking in live professional wrestling, and debating pop culture. A long-term member of the Screen Rant family, Michael looks forward to continuing on creating new content for the site for many more years to come.