Stephen King's "It" DVD: Worth buying it? (1 Viewer)

[Chris Joyner]

I've seen this movie on TV when I was a kid, but that was a long time ago. I saw it at Target for $9.99, and it's in widescreen and enhanced for 16x9 TV's. Has anyone bought or seen this DVD? Is it worth buying?

 

[Matt Stone]

Quality is pretty good, but a lot of fans are pissed because of the 16x9 cropping. The film was 4x3 on TV, so the top and bottom are cut off. I've also heard that a scene or two are missing, but I can't confirm that.

 

[Josh Sieg]

I was wondering about this DVD as well.

 

[cafink]

It's a great movie, but the DVD stinks.

"IT" was made for television, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, while the DVD has been cropped to 16:9. Additionally, some footage is missing. "IT" was originally a two-part miniseries, and the opening titles of part two played over some footage. Because the version of "IT" on DVD has been edited into one long presentation, the footage featuring these titles has been removed completely.

Laserdisc is the best way to watch "IT," in my opinion. Each disc of the two-disc set contains one part of the movie, complete with opening and closing credits for both parts. If you check eBay, you could probably find the laserdisc for about the same price you'd pay for the DVD (maybe a little more with shipping, but it's worth it in my opinion).

The one saving grace of the DVD is the rockin' commentary track. Like I said, I wouldn't buy the DVD to just watch the movie but if you enjoy commentaries a lot you might think this alone justifies the relatively cheap price of the disc, so maybe you'll want to pick it up anyway.

Just my two cents.

 

[Brian Kidd]

I loved IT when I first saw it, but after watching it recently I can't say that it holds up. The scared had to be severely toned down for television and the low budget and short running time (for such a long book) really hurt the film.

Go read the book. It's (no pun intended) one of King's best.

 

[Esten]

Has there been any clarification from Wallace that he didn't compose for 1.85:1? From all i've read it's a little hazy on the films intended AR.

 

[Josh Sieg]

the DVD is about 9.44 at 'Wal Mart'

 

[Matt_Marlow]

For the price, if you like the movie at all, the DVD is worth it. I also have the LD, but the picture quality on the DVD (at least on my setup) is much better, so I doubt I'll watch the LD again. Yeah, I guess there are a few scenes missing, but I can't get too worked up about it. For under $10 you can't go wrong here. The commentary track is pretty interesting too.