“Maturin won, and he banished that thing to Earth.”
On Halloween of this year, HBO Max surprised fans of IT: Welcome To Derry with a special prequel revealing the origin of the Kollu or Tha Galloo, better known to most fans in its most famous form as Pennywise The Clown. The short, which runs about thirty minutes, introduces us to a trio of Shokopiwah children who go into the forbidden Western Wood to find food for their tribe when meat becomes scarce due to the intrusion of settlers and their overhunting of the animals. They come across the Kollu and are rescued by a mysterious stranger. They learn how to trap the Kollu, but they also run into trouble. I’ll stop right there so as to not spoil the story.
The story doesn’t add anything special or extra to the world of IT, but there is one big surprise that longtime fans of the films, television series, or the written works of Stephen King will probably enjoy. If you want the surprise spoiled, simply search the web for a few seconds and you’ll find out the big reveal. I won’t say anything here. I will say that the episode is well done, the acting is very good, especially from the three young leads. The creature effects are achieved with some practical effects, but most of the gore and creature effects are CGI. The cinematography is exceptionally well done. The one thing that I can guarantee that you will not see in this episode is Pennywise the Clown. The character is absent for good reason: The Pennywise form of the being hasn’t been realized yet by the Kollu.
The episode is directed by Tazbah Chavez. It was written by Cheri DiMaline and Jasmyne Flournoy. It stars Kiawentiio as Necani, Isabel Deroy-Olson as Kino, Michael Podemski as Maneese, Zahn McClarnon, and Morningstar Angeline as Sesqui. It is available on HBO Max as of this writing.
Thanks for checking out my look at this surprise episode of IT: Welcome To Derry.
