IT, the 2017 Andres Muschietti remake of the classic film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, and, of course, based on author Stephen King's novel of the same name, was well received in 2017 and continues to be considered by some as one of the best horror films of all time.
The film follows the stories of young school children in a small town who band together to battle a great evil which is only referred to by the name "It". Muschietti's adaptation is recognized for the utterly creepy animation of the many forms that "It" takes, but one of the main draws of the movie, for many, is the obvious chemistry of the cast and their flawless performances of the script's witty dialogue. Enjoy ten of the best quotes of the self-proclaimed "loser's club".
"You Know What These Are? They're Gazebos!"
This hilarious quote comes from the moment when Eddie reveals to his mother that he knows that the pills she has him take are placebos.
He has just been to the pharmacy to pick up is regular doses of countless amounts of medication, and while there the pharmacist's trouble-maker daughter bluntly tells Eddie that his pills are placebos, which he later refers to inaccurately as "gazebos."
"I'm Glad I Met You Before You Died."
Richie is pretty much never serious. If he's trying to sound sincere or show that he cares, it is always mixed in with a joke.
When he tells Ben the first time that they meet that he is glad they met before Ben "died", it's his way of saying that he's glad Ben is okay, and that Henry Bowers--the bully constantly wreaking havoc on everyone's lives--didn't hurt Ben too seriously.
"I Need My Bi-Focals. I Hid 'Em In My Second Fanny Pack."
Eddie is one of the funniest characters in the film, rivaled only by Richie. He's also a very complex character, something that is a bit rare as funny characters often serve as the source of a lot of laughter but don't get much depth beyond that.
Eddie's complex life--his quirks regarding is germophobia and nerdy habits, like carrying two fanny packs--is woven in with his humor, allowing the audience to appreciate both. A lot of the complexities of both Eddie and Richie can be found in their colorful banter, of which this quote is a prime example.
"If You Say Summer One More F***ing Time..."
The movie is set during the summer break. The kids are all ready to put down their school books and play outside. Bill, on the other hand, has other plans in mind for them all. His brother Georgie was killed recently, and he is since obsessed with the case. Convinced that Georgie might still be alive somewhere, Bill enlists his group of friends to help him search.
But as the summer pans out, things get more complicated than he expected. Whenever anything goes wrong, someone in the group will reference the fact that 'it's summer' as if this is a self-explanatory reason for them to abandon anything serious. In this quote, Bill has finally had enough.
"He Thrusts His Fists Against The Post, And Still Insists He Sees The Ghost..."
Bill recites these words as a way to try to get his stutter under control. It serves as a form of a tongue-twister, but actually doubles as a mantra which aids Bill in defeating the monster It.
The line originally comes from the sci-fi novel Donovan's Brain, in which the lead character chants the lines as a way of resisting hypnotism. One could say that Bill's reliance on the power of the tongue-twister also transcends its use for his stutter and becomes a sort of metaphor for conquering fear, which is the key to defeating It.
"My Mom Finds Out I Bought All This For Myself, I'll Spend The Whole Rest Of The Week In The Emergency Room Getting X-Rayed."
Eddie is standing in the pharmacy with his arms overflowing with first-aid products. The group has found Ben after his violent run-in with the town bully Henry Bowers and his gang, and they rush to get supplies to wrap up the wounds that Henry inflicted upon Ben.
Eddie, a pharmacy regular and victim of Munchausen's syndrome which causes his mother to treat him as though he is ill when he is in fact very healthy, reveals the extremity of his mother's paranoia through this quote.
"I Can't Believe I Pulled The Short Straw. You Guys Are Lucky You're Not Measuring D***s."
Richie is the crudest of them all. When he cracks a joke, it almost always references sex, women, or who is the manliest. Knowing from IT: Chapter 2 that Richie is, in fact, gay sheds a whole new light on such jokes.
Richie lives in a town where being gay is not acceptable, and to be openly so would put him at risk of serious harm. The fact that he's just a scared, sensitive kid is masked by his over-the-top offensive humor. Much like Eddie, Richie says the funniest things that make us both laugh and wince for the darkness they reveal.
"I Go Home And All I See Is That Georgie Isn't There....So Walking Into This House, For Me, Is Easier Than Walking Into My Own."
The majority of the group has been complaining about Bill's obsession with It all summer. They don't see why it's their job to defeat It, and repeatedly state that everyone should just go home and return to normal life. Bill finds himself at the end of his rope and sets out to conquer It alone.
When the rest of the losers club follows him there, he makes a speech about how entering It's house isn't scary to him, because his own house is already the scariest place he could be. This shows the privilege that the other kids have been demonstrating, as they didn't think to consider that a normal summer was never an option for Bill.
"You Punched Me In The Face, You Made Me Walk Through S****y Water, You Brought Me To A F***ing Crackhead House, And Now...I'm Gonna Have To Kill This F***ing Clown."
The losers club is facing off with It as the creature holds Bill in a vice grip, telling the others that they can leave now if they leave Bill to his death.
Richie, who recently had a fight with Bill over not wanting to continue going after It, now rattles off all of the reasons he has to be angry at Bill, the most recent being that Bill convinced him to come back and ultimately lead him to immense danger, and just as we think Richie is about to leave Bill to his death, he reveals his utter loyalty.
"I Never Felt Like A Loser When I Was With All Of You."
The fact that the group refers to themselves as the 'Losers Club' began as a joke, but it held power because, like many hurtful , it gained strength through being embraced and re-purposed by those who it was initially intended to hurt.
All the same, at the end of the film Beverly acknowledges the pain at the root of the word and shares a cathartic moment with Bill by putting all jokes aside and itting to her feelings of belonging with no irony attached.
