The Obsessive Viewer - Movie Review Podcast · Obsessive Viewer Podcasts

OV499 - IT: Welcome to Derry (Season 1) - Guest: Mitch Ringenberg

·2 hr 8 min·5 clips

Obsessive Viewer podcast episode 499 featuring host Matt Hurt and film critic Mitch Ringenberg reviewing the HBO series 'It: Welcome to Derry' Season 1 (which aired Oct 26–Dec 14, 2025). The review covers their expectations going in, the show's strong first half of wild practical horror set-pieces, then a sharp decline in the second half due to over-explanation of Pennywise's mythology, a tedious military subplot, and poor CGI. The conversation weaves in tangential but entertaining discussions about David Simon (The Wire), a Wired John Belushi biopic, Steven Seagal's directorial debut, and Mitch's wife's chance flight encounter with David Simon's ex-wife.

As heard by us

A conversational horror discussion that is strongest when it moves from effects talk into the messier debate around the show.

This Obsessive Viewer episode treats It: Welcome to Derry as a lively, movie-literate discussion that stays strongest when it gets specific about the show's look, its effects work, and the uneasy line between something feeling built and something feeling truly scary.

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Why you'd press play

A smart hangout if you want a conversational It: Welcome to Derry review that pushes back on knee-jerk takes.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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