Quentin Tarantino once made a bold accusation about a Stephen King story, but that of HBO IT: Welcome to Derry will prove him wrong.
Although Tarantino is best known for his long line of acclaimed and award-winning films, the director has often made headlines for his searing takes. One of these shots surprisingly revolved around a Stephen King book, suggesting that the king of horror had ripped off a popular franchise.
While it’s understandable where Tarantino is coming from with his bold accusation, his comparison seems to overlook many of the elements that set Stephen King’s story apart. HBO’s upcoming Stephen King adaptation IT: Welcome to Derrywill further prove Tarantino completely wrong.
Quentin Tarantino once called Stephen King’s IT a rip-off of the Elm Street nightmare
To Eli Roth’s Horror Story: Uncut PodcastQuentin Tarantino made a bold statement about Stephen King HEsaying that “the book is a ripoff of Stephen King’s Nightmare on Elm Street.“He further oversimplified Stephen King’s magnum opus by concluding that King simply replace Freddy Krueger with Pennywise.
To explain his take on Stephen King’s story, the director suggested that Stephen King essentially iced over the ideas presented in Wes Craven’s original film and added more details to make it a thick novel. For obvious reasons, Tarantino’s accusation didn’t sit very well with many horror and Stephen King fans.
There are undeniable similarities between computing and the Wes Cavern film
To a certain extent, we understand where Tarantino is coming from. HE And A Nightmare on Elm Street have carved their own identity into the horror genre, but they share some intriguing overlaps.
For example, Freddy Krueger and Pennywise are depicted as shapeshifting monsters who terrorize their victims by transforming into their deepest fears. Both monsters also feed on the fears of their victims and become weakened when they stand up against them with courage and determination.
This: Welcome to Derry premieres on HBO October 26, 2025.
The main human characters in both stories are also children or young adults, and the overall horror stories of both are limited to a specific city. Interestingly, director Andy Muschietti also considered riffing on these parallels by featuring a Freddy Krueger cameo.
In an interview (via Aint-It-Cool-News), the director revealed that he later abandoned the idea because he wanted to focus on more complex and relatable scares.
IT: Welcome to Derry will probably prove Tarantino wrong on this one
There’s nothing wrong with discussing how two horror franchises share narrative and thematic parallels. However, the problem with Tarantino’s statement is that instead of simply pointing out similarities, he directly calls out HE a scam of Nightmare on Elm Streeteven if their parallels are only at surface level.
The next prequel of both HE movies, HBO IT: Welcome to Derrywill further establish why it is wrong to compare the two horror franchises. Since the series is a prequel, it will likely delve into the details of how Pennywise is more of an ancient cosmic entity.
Unlike Freddy Krueger, Pennywise originates from a dimension outside of the human universe and has no human origin. Even from a thematic point of view, This: Welcome to Derrylike the films, will capture how Stephen King’s story has always been about the loss of innocence and collective trauma.
While A Nightmare on Elm Street also touches on similar themes, it is mainly about the consequences of keeping secrets and the cost of the sins of father figures. Overall, although it is obvious that Stephen KingHBO’s IT is its own business and in no way a scam, HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry will further prove Quentin Tarantino was completely wrong.
