One brief shot references a particularly horrifying tragedy from the book, and there are all kinds of instances of foreshadowing for the second part, including an important detail about the order in which the characters walk away at the end. Let's take a look at some small details in It that only true fans noticed.
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00:00The newest adaptation of Stephen King's It contains a lot of Easter eggs, some of which
00:04are more obvious than others.
00:06In addition to the ones we've talked about before, like those t-shirt logos, here's a
00:10look at some of the other small details in It that only true fans noticed.
00:15The absentee parents
00:17As we see in the beginning of the movie, Derry has instituted a town curfew in reaction to
00:22the disappearances of Georgie Denbrough, Betty Ripsom, and others.
00:26Kids are expected to be home by seven sharp, but that appears to be the full extent of
00:30the adults' concern or responsive action regarding their own children's well-being.
00:35This is definitely a conscious nod to the parents depicted in the book, who prefer to
00:39forget about the town's dark history, even ignoring violence as it happens.
00:43Most of the parental figures in the film are ones that have created additional problems
00:47for their children.
00:49Robert Dohey's head
00:50During the movie's visual history of the Easter parade explosion that claimed the lives of
00:54so many kids, there's one particularly gruesome image that the camera seems to linger on,
00:59a boy's head up in a tree.
01:02That's a nod to Robert Dohey, a nine-year-old character from the book whose remains popped
01:06up days after the rest of the victims in a neighbor's apple tree, and it was just his
01:10head.
01:11Considering all the creepy book deaths that didn't make the leap from the page to the
01:14big screen, that's an unsettling one to keep for sure.
01:18The stutter chant
01:19Another thing book readers and fans of the miniseries will recognize is the phrase Bill
01:23uses to overcome his stutter.
01:25In the book, it's he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
01:30In the movie, only a fraction of that is uttered by Bill, perhaps because he's still struggling
01:35to finish it.
01:36Without the second clause, it's a little less creepy, but the line is still seen as a major
01:40metaphor for the story as a whole, and he uses it to regain his self-confidence and
01:44strength in times of trial in the book and movie alike, so it's still effective.
01:49I heart Derry
01:50Patrick Hockstetter's death in the movie is nothing like it was in the book, but there
01:54is still something familiar about his fate.
01:57In the movie, he comes upon a balloon that turns around to read I heart Derry on it before
02:01it gets him.
02:02It's ominous enough standing alone, but when you remember the book's story about Adrian
02:06Mellon, it's even worse.
02:08In the book, Adrian was a gay man who was beaten up and flung beneath a bridge by some
02:12homophobic bullies.
02:13While trying to rescue him, his partner saw the clown, and that the overpass was filled
02:18with balloons that had the same phrasing on it.
02:20And it was a hat with the I heart Derry logo that started the attack sequence in the first
02:24place.
02:25Perhaps the reason the balloon came into play for Patrick here is that in the books, he
02:28too exhibited a preference for a same-sex partner, even though that didn't make it to
02:33screen.
02:34The Corner
02:35Another wink to the source material is contained in the location of Georgie's travels while
02:40chasing his paper boat down the street.
02:42The camera pans to the street signs, which reveals he's at the intersection of Jackson
02:46and Wychum, just like in the book, and the fact that he runs right into one of the sawhorses
02:51that littered the flooded street.
02:53Well, that's quite literally a book reference that smacks us in the face.
02:56Paul Bunyan
02:58When the Losers gather to discuss the town's killer clown in the park, a statue of Paul
03:02Bunyan can be seen lingering behind Mike as he fills him in on what he knows.
03:06In the book, the statue is not only there, but it also comes to life to taunt Richie
03:10as his own personalized fear, instead of the clown's.
03:13Perhaps the reason the statue still made it into the movie, despite not being presented
03:17as Richie's materialized fear factor, is that the statue really does exist in Stephen King's
03:21Neck of the Woods in Bangor, Maine.
03:23Not only that, but it's been creeping all the locals out since it was erected.
03:27"...I know the difference between a bad dream and real life, okay?"
03:31The Forgetting
03:32After they manage to defeat It for the first time, the Losers assemble for what is, unbeknownst
03:37to them, the last time the seven will be together like this.
03:40They listen to Beverly as she talks about what it was like to be under the deadlights
03:44of Pennywise, and she tells them that she's already forgetting pieces of what she experienced.
03:48That's a definite bit of foreshadowing for what's going to come when they grow up and
03:51purge It and Derry as a whole from their adult memories — until It returns, of course.
03:57Exit Order
03:58Another subtle preview exists in the order in which the Losers take leave of each other,
04:02with Stan departing first and Eddie shortly behind him.
04:05As we know from the book's second half, there's also the order in which they'll depart in
04:09entirely different ways.
04:11Stan, as an adult, is so shaken by the return of It that he takes his own life in the bathtub,
04:16and Eddie makes it back to Derry to fight alongside his childhood comrades, but is killed
04:20in the battle before It is ultimately defeated.
04:23Those might be stories for Chapter 2, but It wasn't afraid to give fans a little taste
04:27of what's to come here.