Apart from Fred Gwynne, Dale Midkiff and Denise Crosby were horribly miscast. Both good actors, but this wasn't the right material for them. They couldn't convey the grief and desperation that came across from the Creeds in the book.

The ending was altered by Paramount execs as well to give it "the slasher" treatment, that is far different from the open (but guessable) ending of the book.

On the other hand, I'd like to forget that they made a second one. 

Looks like chances are slim that I'll have time to catch this in the theaters... anyone seeing it this weekend?

I saw it.

There's a lot going for it - strong performances, strong visuals, creepy in

many ways - but I couldn't help feeling let down by it. It felt like a lot of the

choices made by the characters weren't really earned. At 100 minutes, it's

also brisk - I think it needed to be longer.

Nowhere near as compelling as the excellent remake of IT.