When it comes to horror, IT: Welcome to Derry review reminds everyone why Stephen King is the name that comes to mind, in a heartbeat. The stories he had written fueled the entire generation of horror fans, worldwide. Stories were so good that there was a time that as kid, as teenager, I didn’t want to look outside of the window after 9 pm, making me feel like someone or something is always watching me, hidden behind a tree, window, or even plain sight.
IT: Welcome to Derry Review Scores
| Review Platform | Rating Score |
| MovieSharp | 8.0/10 |
| IMDB | 7.9/10 |
| Rotten Tomatoes | 80% |
| Metacritic | 61% |
| IGN | 8/10 (Overall) |
| Collider | 6/10 |
| Screen Rant | 7/10 |
| Roger Ebert | – |
| MovieWeb | 4.5/5 |
| IndieWire | C- (Grade) |
Review scores are based on publicly available data collected on December 15, 2025.
Recommended Reads
Everything You Need to Know About Pennywise the Dancing Clown
IT Welcome to Derry 2025 – Pennywise Returns in the HBO Prequel Series
Now the Stephen King’s IT is undoubtedly one of the most scariest, supernatural mystery in the whole world, it was so success that millions of books were sold. When the Andy Muschietti directed the IT movie in 2017, it became the cult classic, that give a new meaning to the horror genre. The losers club, how the demonic clown: Pennywise want to taste the fear of these kids, how it’s mouth watering when the prey start growing fear..that was amazing, disturbing, scary, yet quite enjoyable.
2019, IT 2 came with the high hope of its predecessor, but yeah..as the usual curse that’s going on most of sequels, it wasn’t as good as the original IT and it let down many fans as the horror element that displayed on IT 2017 was simply not there.
So, IT: Welcome to Derry was announced in the above situation, where fans want more, but genuinely afraid of what would they received, with Andy Muschietti’s recent flop, the Flash was also a major concern to fans that think he’s capable of delivering that original IT to Welcome to Derry.
And then the first episode of Welcome to Derry aired Oct 26, 2024 and the rest is kind of history. The first episode delivered an exceptional level of original IT horror that fans were breathless, with comprehending what just happened at the end of the very first episode.
Starting from that, Welcome to Derry delivered masterful horror and supernatural story that almost surface the original IT 2017, forming a new loser club in 1962. One of the major thing about Welcome to Derry is that there no plot armor seems to have any of the characters, not even the main ones. It makes us genuinely want to care about the characters, as the stakes are so high that we don’t even know that they would make it out alive in next second.
As usual Bill Skarsgård delivered an undoubtable no matching Pennywise performance with the act and voice, that I’m pretty sure that no one in the world could play Pennywise better than him. He’s born to play the dancing clown for sure.
Other actors, Jovan Adepo, Clara Stack, Chris Chalk, Arian S. Cartaya done a really good job on their roles making it memorable.
Unlike the previous movies, Pennywise was so brutal on this cycle, that give a fans so many unforgettable moment throughout the show, especially the episode 7 where the The Black Spot Massacre and how it drive Pennywise for the fear it craves.
The show’s cinematography, the atmosphere, the sound music all flow very well. I’m writing this review before 3 day to the final episode release, and I’m eager to wait what it hold and how it paved the road to the next sequel even though shows goes backward in time, showing Pennywise previous 27 year cycles.
So do I recommend this, absolutely, if you’re a fan of horror, supernatural, no doubt that you would love the Welcome to Derry show, show that blends horror, and supernatural in a masterful way.