Quentin Tarantino as soon as made a daring accusation a few Stephen King story, however HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry will show him mistaken.
Though Tarantino is greatest recognized for his lengthy line of acclaimed and award-winning motion pictures, the director has usually made headlines for his scorching takes. One in all these scorching takes surprisingly revolved round a Stephen King book, suggesting that the King of Horror ripped off a preferred franchise.
Whereas it’s comprehensible the place Tarantino comes from together with his daring accusation, his comparability appears to miss many parts that make the Stephen King story stand out. HBO’s upcoming Stephen King adaptation, IT: Welcome to Derry, will additional show that Tarantino was lifeless mistaken.
Quentin Tarantino As soon as Known as Stephen King’s IT A Rip-Off Of Nightmare On Elm Road
In Eli Roth’s History of Horror: Uncut podcast, Quentin Tarantino made one daring declare about Stephen King’s IT, saying that “the e book is Stephen King’s ripoff of Nightmare on Elm Road.” He additional oversimplified Stephen King’s magnum opus by concluding that King merely replaces Freddy Krueger with Pennywise.
To clarify his tackle the Stephen King story, the director urged that Stephen King mainly cake-frosted the concepts introduced within the unique Wes Craven movie and added extra particulars to show it right into a thick novel. For apparent causes, Tarantino’s accusation didn’t sit too properly with many horror and Stephen King followers.
There Are Some Plain Similarities Between IT & The Wes Cavern Movie
To some extent, it’s comprehensible the place Tarantino is coming from. IT and A Nightmare on Elm Road have etched their very own identities within the horror style, however they do share some intriguing overlaps.
For example, each Freddy Krueger and Pennywise are portrayed as shape-shifting monsters who terrorize their victims by remodeling into their deepest fears. The 2 monsters additionally feed on their victims’ fears and weaken when their victims stand in opposition to them with braveness and resolve.
It: Welcome to Derry premieres on HBO on October 26, 2025.
The first human characters in each narratives are additionally kids or younger adults, and the overarching horror narratives in each are confined to a selected city. Apparently, director Andy Muschietti additionally thought of riffing on these parallels by that includes a Freddy Krueger cameo.
In an interview (through Aint-It-Cool-News), the director revealed he later dropped the concept as a result of he needed to concentrate on fears that felt extra layered and relatable.
IT: Welcome To Derry Will Seemingly Show Tarantino Was Flawed About IT
There may be nothing mistaken with discussing how two horror franchises share narrative and thematic parallels. Nonetheless, the difficulty with Tarantino’s assertion is that, as a substitute of merely highlighting similarities, he straight-up calls IT a rip-off of Nightmare on Elm Road, regardless that their parallels are simply surface-level.
The upcoming prequel to the 2 IT motion pictures, HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry, will additional set up why it’s mistaken to check the 2 horror franchises. For the reason that present is a prequel, it can doubtless delve into the main points of how Pennywise is extra of an historical cosmic entity.
Not like Freddy Krueger, Pennywise hails from a dimension outdoors the human universe and doesn’t have human origins. Even from a thematic standpoint, It: Welcome to Derry, like the flicks, will seize how the Stephen King story has at all times been concerning the lack of innocence and collective trauma.
Whereas A Nightmare on Elm Road additionally dabbles with comparable themes, it’s primarily concerning the penalties of conserving secrets and techniques and the price of the sins of paternal figures. All in all, regardless that it’s evident that Stephen King‘s IT is its personal factor and not at all a rip-off, HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry will additional show Quentin Tarantino was lifeless mistaken.
