Although Tarantino is best known for his long line of acclaimed and award-winning movies, the director has often made headlines for his hot takes. One of these hot takes surprisingly revolved around a Stephen King book, suggesting that the King of Horror ripped off a popular franchise.
While it is understandable where Tarantino comes from with his bold accusation, his comparison seems to overlook many elements that make the Stephen King story stand out. HBO’s upcoming Stephen King adaptation, IT: Welcome to Derry, will further prove that Tarantino was dead wrong.
Quentin Tarantino Once Called Stephen King’s IT A Rip-Off Of Nightmare On Elm Street
In Eli Roth’s History of Horror: Uncut podcast, Quentin Tarantino made one bold claim about Stephen King’s IT, saying that “the book is Stephen King’s ripoff of Nightmare on Elm Street.” He further oversimplified Stephen King’s magnum opus by concluding that King merely replaces Freddy Krueger with Pennywise.
To explain his take on the Stephen King story, the director suggested that Stephen King basically cake-frosted the ideas presented in the original Wes Craven movie and added more details to turn it into a thick novel. For obvious reasons, Tarantino’s accusation did not sit too well with many horror and Stephen King fans.
There Are Some Undeniable Similarities Between IT & The Wes Cavern Film
To some extent, it is understandable where Tarantino is coming from. IT and A Nightmare on Elm Street have etched their own identities in the horror genre, but they do share some intriguing overlaps.
For instance, both Freddy Krueger and Pennywise are portrayed as shape-shifting monsters who terrorize their victims by transforming into their deepest fears. The two monsters also feed on their victims’ fears and weaken when their victims stand against them with courage and resolve.
It: Welcome to Derry premieres on HBO on October 26, 2025.
The primary human characters in both narratives are also children or young adults, and the overarching horror narratives in both are confined to a specific town. 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 he later dropped the idea because he wanted to focus on fears that felt more layered and relatable.
IT: Welcome To Derry Will Likely Prove Tarantino Was Wrong About IT
There is nothing wrong with discussing how two horror franchises share narrative and thematic parallels. However, the issue with Tarantino’s statement is that, instead of merely highlighting similarities, he straight-up calls IT a rip-off of Nightmare on Elm Street, even though their parallels are just surface-level.
The upcoming prequel to the two IT movies, HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry, will further establish why it is wrong to compare the two horror franchises. Since the show is a prequel, it will likely delve into the details of how Pennywise is more of an ancient cosmic entity.
Unlike Freddy Krueger, Pennywise hails from a dimension outside the human universe and does not have human origins. Even from a thematic standpoint, It: Welcome to Derry, like the movies, will capture how the Stephen King story has always been about the loss of innocence and collective trauma.
While A Nightmare on Elm Street also dabbles with similar themes, it is primarily about the consequences of keeping secrets and the cost of the sins of paternal figures. All in all, even though it is evident that Stephen King‘s IT is its own thing and by no means a rip-off, HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry will further prove Quentin Tarantino was dead wrong.
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