1. That movie was a made-for-television movie. So it didn't have the massive budget that the modern remake had. 2. Horror movies have changed. Today's horror movies are all about jump scares, blood, gore and leveraging people's body fears. The are about inducing TERROR. 3. "It"---the actual novel----is a true HORROR tale (Horror being the fear induced by a moral injury). When you see something that so fundamentally violates your sense of what is right-and-wrong. The tale is about supernatural entity/evil spirit (a manitou) that has been preying upon the children of that town for generations. While the adults do NOTHING to protect the children from it. The adults fail in their duty to protect their children so spectacularly, that the children have to take it upon themselves to confront that evil and defeat it. The fear of this story is the fear of children who have essentially been abandoned by their parents and all the authority figures in their lives...and have been left to fight 'The Monster Under the Bed" that is real.... ...by themselves. That kind of fear is a slow, grinding, won't let you fall asleep kind of horror. Not a wake you up in the middle of the night screaming kind of terror. The problem is that the attention span of modern movie goers is shorter...and (as you noted) their tastes in what they consider fear-inspiring are different. Most modern movie goers want a TERROR experience....rather than a genuine HORROR experience. Which is what the Stephen King is a master of.

The book was better. It was a made for TV special when it came out. TV back then wasnt like it is now.

Yes, it was scary. I was horrified after I saw it. I hid under the covers afraid to open them for fear of It being there. I was only 6-7 though

That’s what I thought when I first saw it. I remember everyone thinking it was the scariest movie at the time. Then I saw it and was not that impressed. Tim curry was cool though.

I still think Tim Curry was better.