Shot by Shot with the ‘IT: Chapter 2’ Trailer

The Loser's Club is back in the sequel to 2017's record-breaking horror movie.
It Chapter Trailer

The two sit down for tea, and as Mrs. Kersh turns on a record player, Bev quickly notices something’s amiss. There are bugs on the windowsill making a strange formation, and when she’s not apologizing for the stifling heat, Mrs. Kersh is saying some creepy stuff about the town. “You know what they say about Derry,” she says, and Bev smiles thinly, humoring her. “No one who dies here ever really dies,” Mrs. Kersh says, and her eyes develop a sudden glint that wasn’t there before.

There’s a prolonged moment of silence as Bev tries to assess whether she’s hanging out with a kooky old lady or something more sinister. Mrs. Kersh’s smile is freakishly frozen until she finally breaks the silence to ask Beverly how it feels to be back in Derry. “It’s good, strange,” Bev replies. Then comes the grossest shot in the trailer. Mrs. Kersh, still apparently overheated, starts fanning her chest, and we see that she has a gnarly open sore, a pattern of holes and wrinkles that’s pretty gag-worthy.

When Mrs. Kersh tells Beverly there are cookies in the oven, Bev takes it as her cue to go, but the old woman insists she stay, and we all know Chastain characters are too nice to make an exit without saying goodbye. Instead, she starts eyeing the family photos on the wall. Mrs. Kersh tells her that her father came to America with $14 in his pocket and that he was in the circus. Here we’re given a nifty shot that rewards multiple rewatches. In the foreground, Beverly has clearly seen something uncomfortable, and her mood palpably shifts to one of fearful recognition. In the background, Mrs. Kersh, now bare-shouldered, peeks creepily around the corner from the kitchen.

We see where Beverly’s gaze is fixed, on an old-fashioned photo of Pennywise in human garb, a young girl on his arm. In the background, the sign advertising “The Great Pennywise — Dancing Clown” is nearly identical to the one Bev woke up next to in the sewer 27 years earlier.

Mrs. Kersh scoots by again, this time clearly naked and moving with an inhuman gait. “I was always daddy’s little girl,” she says from the shadows as Beverly slowly turns around. This is a terrifying evocation for Bev, whose dad was sexually predatory and often called her his little girl.

“What about you?” the not-really-an-old-lady asks as the music swells and Bev backs away slowly. “Are you still his little girl, Beverly?” There’s a shot of black as she shouts, “ARE YOU?!” then those wet footstep noises again. For a split second, we see the point-of-view between the being’s spindly kneecaps as it dashes at Beverly with a feral roar. Then, our hearts in our throats after minutes spent with this scene, we’re swept through a quick-cut series of shots from the movie.


Previous 2 of 6 Next

Valerie Ettenhofer: Valerie Ettenhofer is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer, TV-lover, and mac and cheese enthusiast. As a Senior Contributor at Film School Rejects, she covers television through regular reviews and her recurring column, Episodes. She is also a voting member of the Critics Choice Association's television and documentary branches. Twitter: @aandeandval (She/her)