Quentin Tarantino’s contributions to the form are undeniable. “Pulp Fiction” is one of the prime examples of the independent film boom of the 1990s, “Inglorious Basterds” is one of the great anti-fascist films of the 2000s, and “Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood” is probably his best film to date. That said, he is a notoriously opinionated man who is often known for talking his own red apple. No one will deny Tarantino’s obscene wealth of knowledge regarding the annals of cinema history, but his arrogance can often lead to confusing, if not downright wrong, interpretations of other people’s work, like Stephen King’s “It.”
King’s 1986 terror tome about a group of New England outcasts battling a cosmic evil in the guise of a clown named Pennywise is often considered one of his most famous stories, and rightly so. It’s a massive text that showcases all of his best and worst tendencies as a writer, much like Tarantino. The “Kill Bill” director has a strange opinion on the matter, however. In a 2019 podcast discussion of “Eli Roth’s History of Horror: Uncut,” Tarantino explains how he thinks King’s “It” is a ripoff of Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” He said:
“He just replaces Freddy Krueger with Pennywise. It’s just like if he saw ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’: ‘Oh wow, that’s a really good idea. That’s really smart. It’s cool. Well, let me take this idea and let me do it.” My version of it. From now on, his version will be a 560-page novel. »
You can draw superficial parallels to the works of King and Craven by showing a group of children being tormented by an evil shapeshifter with a loud mouth who is capable of harming them based on the fear they exude, but that’s it.
Quentin Tarantino’s disconcerting belief that this is a rip-off of A Nightmare on Elm Street
Pennywise the Dancing Clown and Freddy Krueger are both notorious murderers whose negative force affects their respective cities, although in very different ways. The “Elm Street” films have played a little fast and loose with how Freddy can wield his powers, but for the most part, the razor-fingered slasher hurts Springwood’s teens through their dreams. Meanwhile, the interdimensional clown hiding beneath the sewers of Derry poses a very present metaphysical threat in the real world. Freddy is motivated by revenge, while Pennywise does it simply to survive. Even beyond other in-universe details, such as the adults being deliberately oblivious to these monsters, Tarantino mistakes “It” as a scam based solely on timeline logistics.
The original “Nightmare on Elm Street” hit theaters in 1984, followed by the novel “It” hitting bookstore shelves two years later, in 1986. But it’s not as simple as that. For one thing, a 1980 Toronto Star article proves that King actually began writing his horror epic four years before “Elm Street” was released. Although Craven certainly had ideas of Deadly Dreams floating around in his head since the ’70s, he didn’t begin writing the film until 1981. Each artist worked in their own bubble, and their work coincidentally correlated thematically in small ways. No one could confuse Pennywise and Freddy. So why would Tarantino claim one was a ripoff of the other? The answer is simple: its own misinformation.
Quentin Tarantino hadn’t even read it before his comments on the podcast
In the same “History of Horror” interview, Tarantino admits that he never actually read “He.” “Now, if you’ve talked to anyone who’s read the book…now I’m just repeating what they’re saying. I haven’t read the book,” Tarantino says. It should have been obvious that this was the case, given that he thought “It” was about 560 pages when it was about half its actual length. At that point, Tarantino had never seen the 1990 miniseries starring Tim Curry, so he was distancing himself from the 2017 film and what other people had told him about King’s novel. Although he is not a huge fan of the film, he has expressed interest in seeing “It: Chapter Two” to see how it all ends.
There’s also this bizarre moment where Tarantino calls King a great writer, only to then claim that Craven’s screenplay for “Elm Street” wasn’t well written:
“He’s a wonderful writer in that regard, so he fills it with details and fills it with his good prose. And he fills it with his good writing, which Wes Craven didn’t have. Take away all that cake icing, and all the little icing flowers that are put on it, and all that – it’s basically a rip-off of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’.”
Aside from the fact that King’s story spans decades (and sometimes centuries), I won’t hear Craven slander regarding his involvement in the first “Elm Street.” It’s one of the best slasher movie lyrics for a reason. As for fraudulent claims based on extreme similarities between two texts, all I can say is a glass house, Quentin. Glass houses.
“It” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” are currently streaming on HBO Max.
