Tear Jerker / It (2017)

• The scene where Georgie encounters Pennywise is this and Nightmare Fuel. Georgie is laughing with this seemingly friendly clown about their mutual love of popcorn. It's sad because it's the last speck of joy the poor boy will have ever felt before his inevitable demise a minute later.
  • Before that, Georgie's last moment with Bill was them making the paper boat together and Bill saying to him, "She's all ready, Captain", before hugging his brother. It's a Heartwarming Moment that makes Georgie's demise sting even harder.
  • And the filmmakers have somehow made Georgie's death even worse. Pennywise bites off Georgie's arm but, unlike the book, Georgie manages to crawl away from the drain, crying for Bill the whole time. Then Pennywise's arm literally stretches out of the sewer, dragging Georgie back in to face his certain death. Damn.
  • The only reason Georgie wants to get the boat back is because he's worried Bill will be mad at him if he tells him he lost it. He's clearly very creeped out by Pennywise, but he's so scared of Bill being angry, he begrudgingly reaches to take his boat...
    • Not to mention the fact how Georgie probably felt during all this. Just seconds ago he was laughing and having fun, just enjoying life. Then he spends his final moments crying with pain and fear.
  • And to top it all off, as Georgie is dragged down to his death, he had this to scream:
    Georgie: Billyyyyyyy!!!
  • Add to the fact that an old lady saw Georgie talking to Pennywise (though from her POV, she couldn't see who he was talking to) under the sewer opening and yet walked away from it like nothing. And when she did return to actually do something? When she saw the blood from Georgie's ripped off arm. Welcome to Derry, everyone. It's rather telling that her pet cat was more concerned for Georgie than her.
  • Georgie being dragged into the sewer makes the entire scene so much worse. In the book and the mini-series, Georgie dies from blood loss/shock from losing his arm and Pennywise leaves behind the rest of him. This means that the Denbroughs would have at least had closure that he was definitely dead and would have had a body to lay to rest and a gravesite to visit. Here, they are denied even that meager comfort and Bill is left clinging to false hope of his brother's survival.
• At the very end, right before the final confrontation with Pennywise, he appears as Georgie minus the arm he ripped off. Bill's interaction with his brother is heartbreaking, conveying how much he wishes Georgie could come home, but eventually it becomes clear that Bill is very aware that it's just one more of Pennywise's tricks before he shoots Georgie with Mike's bolt gun.
  • Adding to that scene, the part where "Georgie" begins to tearfully plea that he wants to go home and his terrified reaction to Bill pointing the bolt gun at him.
    Georgie: I love you, Billy.
    Bill: I love you, too... [Dramatic Gun Cock] But you're NOT Georgie.
  • Soon after, there's a moment where "Georgie's" body lies still, and the audience is left to wonder if Bill just accidentally shot his little brother... That he transforms into Pennywise shortly afterwards is almost a relief. Almost.
• After the gang manage to drive IT back for now, Bill finds Georgie's raincoat, confirming that Pennywise had long since killed him. Bill just about breaks down crying, falling to his knees while clutching the raincoat while his friends pile in and hug him for comfort.
  • But for Bill, while tragic, this is a healthy kind of tearjerker. As he finally gets the closure he needed and can now begin to move on with his life, too.
• While the 'What if another Georgie goes missing?' speech was epic, Bill makes another speech about how for him going into IT's lair is FAR EASIER than coming into a home without his brother. Just about shows how much Bill misses Georgie.
• Beverly's life is both this and Nightmare Fuel. She's ostracized from the school body and picked on by other girls for (supposedly) sleeping around, and her single father is sexually attracted to her, possibly already molesting her, and attempts to assault her in one scene, forcing her to bludgeon him in self defense. Then Pennywise kidnaps her and imprisons her in his lair in the sewers.
• Ben leaving the library after his traumatizing ordeal only to be set upon by the Bowers gang. They drag him to the Kissing Bridge, leading to Patrick nearly setting Ben’s hair on fire and Henry carving a ‘H’ into Ben’s stomach with his knife while Ben is restrained. Ben is completely helpless throughout... until some adults drive by. Except they’re being controlled by Pennywise, causing them to ignore his cries completely. Anyone who has been bullied will find the scene very hard to watch.
  • Doubles as a real-life example – Nicholas Hamilton (Henry Bowers) said Jeremy Ray Taylor is just as sweet as Ben in real life, which made filming the scene very difficult since they were both in tears from the intensity by the end.
• Eddie discovering his 'medicine' is just a bunch of placebos and he was never sick. He'd been betrayed by his own mother to 'protect' him from the world, leaving him feeling very understandably betrayed.
• At the film's end, the memories the Losers have of the past events is fading and Beverly is leaving for Portland to live with her aunt. Despite going through so much together, they're going to drift apart and forget each other, despite knowing deep down they'll always be friends.
• A bit of Fridge Tearjerker: after the Losers make their blood oath, Stanley is the first to leave. He's also the first to leave 27 years later.
  • Fans of the book may also note that Eddie leaves soon afterwards.
• Beverly crying in the bathroom as she cuts off her long hair, really think about it: She knows her father's sexually attracted to her and she's completely sickened by it, the look on her face as she cries. Also, cutting off hair is a common way for victims to make themselves less attractive to their abusers. It's clear the filmmakers have Shown Their Work. Now think of the real stories they must have heard to get the details right.
• The later scenes in Bill's house. His parents are completely absent and Georgie's room is still enshrined. It's made clearer in the book, but it's heartbreaking to hear Bill talk about going home being worse than the house on Neibolt street when you consider that his parents are so deeply grieving that they've withdrawn from their remaining son.
  • Add to the earlier fact where Bill tries to show his dad how he believes Georgie ended up in the Barrens and his father just furiously tells him Georgie's dead (which eventually turns out to be correct). Father of the year, everybody.
  Bill's Dad: [After listening to Bill's explanation] He's gone, Bill...
  Bill: But- But if the storm sw-swept Georgie in, we should've—
  Bill's Dad: [Exploding] He's GONE! He's DEAD! He's dead, there is NOTHING we can do, NOTHING! Now take this down before your mother sees it. Next time you want to take something from my office... Ask.
  • Really, everything about Bill missing Georgie is saddening: His last talk with his brother was hugging him after making him the paper boat (along with Bill telling Georgie boats are called by feminine pronouns) and it's pretty obvious the two were very close (compared to the mini-series and books which are implied but not so discussed). There's also the fact Bill possibly blames himself for Georgie's disappearance but as seen, he was sick that day and probably would have gotten worse had he gone out. Doesn't make it less depressing considering his obsession with finding his brother, or at least finally getting the closure that he passed.
  • Watch the first scene again. It's not Georgie's room — it's the room he shared with Bill. It's been a year, and Bill still hasn't changed a thing in his room.
  • During the basement scene before it turns into Nightmare Fuel, we have this dialogue between "Georgie" and Bill.
    Georgie: I lost it, Billy. Don't be mad.
    Bill: I'm not mad at you.
• Before the Projector Scene becomes pure Nightmare Fuel, after IT takes control of the projector it shows a series of photographs of Bill and his family before Georgie's death, all of them showing the four (Mom and Dad, Bill and Georgie) having fun together. It's soul-crushing for a number of reasons - how innocent poor Georgie was, how close the four of them were and rubbing it in that Bill has not only lost his younger brother, he's lost his parents as well. Man, whoever would have expected that a Monster Clown which kills kids because their fear tastes good would be such a dick?
• When the gang is cleaning up Ben's Bowers-inflicted slash wounds and Bev unexpectedly shows up. The moment when he realizes Beverly has a crush on Bill, the look on his face is devastating, and then Richie has to rub it in by telling him about their stage kiss.
• When Stan was separated from the group in Neibolt, he's completely traumatized from what IT did to him. He was convinced that the rest of the losers left him, and he sobs "You're not my friends" to them. During this ordeal, the other losers are sobbing as well, and are all comforting Stanley, and tell him that they would never desert him.
  • The part about them not being his friends, while certainly being more out of fear than anything else, brings back to a small but poignant scene: during Stan's Bar Mitzvah (whose rehearsal, as we have seen, has been stressful) only Richie shows up among the guests. Sure, Eddie, Bev and possibly Mike are being kept home by their parents, but Ben and especially Bill aren't present. Seen from Stan's perspective, he doesn't have many people to cling to when in need.
  • This is much, MUCH worse when you factor in what Stan's trauma ultimately drives him to do years later.
• The look on Beverly's face when she decides to "flirt" with Mr. Keene is heartbreaking. She knows adult men are attracted to her due to her (undeserved) reputation of being a slut, and this becomes much, much Harsher in Hindsight after what we learn about her home life later.
• "The Denbrough Family Dinner" deleted scene is one big Tear Jerker. Bill and his dad are sitting at the kitchen table and his mom is washing the dishes. Bill suggests they should start planning their trip to Acadia National Park. His mother gets all angry, throws the dishes in the sink and leaves. Bill's dad then tells Bill why it hurt his mother so much.
  Bill's Dad: Your brother was looking very forward to this trip. It was his favorite.
  Bill: Mine too...
• As Bill, Richie, and Eddie leave school to start summer break, they notice Betty Ripsom's distraught mother waiting outside the school, as if she's vainly hoping that her missing daughter will somehow come out with all the other kids. Of course, Betty has long since become one of Pennywise's victims. Remember that each child taken by IT means another grieving family.
• The deleted scene showing Henry crying in pain and applying ointment to scars on his back after having been beaten and whipped by his father. The first chance you get to truly see what the poor kid is going through.

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