Portland Horror Review: GEORGIE (2019)

GEORGIE, written and directed by Ryan Grulich is an ambitious film that serves as an unofficial sequel to the 1990s miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s IT. While the film is full of love directed towards the original source material, the story itself left me with more questions than answers as the end credits rolled.

From the moment it begins, you know that you have arrived back in Derry, Maine. The little details here and there to remind us of the streets of the cursed land help brings fans of the source material into the world that Grulich is aiming to recreate. We eventually land at the house of what we assume to belong to the Denbroughs, where Georgie’s mother, Sharon Denbrough (Meredith Binder), still mourns the loss of her baby boy through her artwork and other recreational activities. However, something is amiss in the household.

Georgie is back (as is Tony Dakota reprising his role from the ’90s miniseries). However, it is not exactly clear in what capacity he is back. At first, you think that it’s his ghost as the ’90s miniseries had us believe in that adaptation. However, as the film unfolds and Georgie comes head to head with his mother, we see little clues that lead us to wonder if perhaps the now grown up Denbrough could perhaps be something more. Perhaps even an incarnation of Pennywise himself?

We get several hints, albeit served in a disjointed fashion that could have used further finessing. The largest hint stems from what could have been a really awesome animated sequence that ends up being too abruptly delivered. If there was a smoother, gradual transition into this particular sequence, I think the message of what needed to be conveyed would be better received by both fans of IT, but also newbies who are trying to follow along with the story. In the end, the final moments we receive of the titular character is one that really makes me pause to wonder what Georgie had transformed into after his fateful encounter with Pennywise when he failed to retrieve his paper boat.

I do think the plot of GEORGIE is polarizing. As for myself, I know that there were questions that I had as the end credits rolled that I could not find answers to, especially when diving into my mental Rolodex of Stephen King mythos. I do not want to spoil anything, so I’m being intentionally vague. Outside of the plot and the abrupt animation sequence, I did enjoy the sound design as well as the ending as the house slowly fills up and starts to burn away. The symbolism in the script, as well as the editing, cannot be denied and it was those little moments that really kept me watching. The film has a lot of potential. I think if certain elements were finessed and, in the case of the titular character’s new upgrades, better explained, this would have been a much smoother love note to Stephen King’s IT.

As with any fanmade film that tackles a well-loved piece of work, GEORGIE will get people talking and – because it is the Internet – arguing.

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Sarah Musnicky

Editor-in-Chief/Co-Owner at Nightmarish Conjurings

Sarah is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Owner of Nightmarish Conjurings. Most may know her due to her desire to literally hug anything that could kill her, but also making sure that everyone is squared away and sanity is intact.

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