The fictional city of Derry, Maine looms unsettlingly large in the novels of Stephen King. It isn't as central to the author's integrated narratives as the berg of Castle Rock (which spawned a mediocre Hulu series), but its role in two of his most celebrated books -- "It" and "11/22/63" (which spawned a putrid Hulu series) -- is of more than Easter egg importance.

It is the hoariest of cliches to say a city is "a character" in a story, but Derry is truly a spellbinding force unto itself in "It." The city has a horrific history, starting with the disappearance of 340 settlers in 1741, continuing with the 1864 massacre of 120 citizens by Confederate sympathizers and including, among many other nasty incidents, the explosion of the Kitchener Ironworks (which killed 102 people in 1906). This is before Pennywise the clown began stalking the and killing the children of Derry in the late 1950s. A city...