Sometimes it feels like we’re all trapped in Derry, Maine.

It: Chapter Two brings the second half of Stephen King’s 1986 horror epic to the screen next week, after a summer marked by unthinkable acts of violence, surging incidents of hatred and cruelty, and surreal disagreements about basic reality. Demagogues lurk on the fringe, feeding on unease, confusion, and division.

It all starts to feel a little too on the red nose.

“We live in a world where there’s a culture of fear, where some leaders have a strong pull on people, which is exactly what Pennywise does,” director Andy Muschietti told Vanity Fair. “You can take it as an analogy: If you are separated, you’re more vulnerable, you’re more weak, and you’re easier to conquer. You’re easier to be made submissive and scared. That’s exactly what Pennywise does, and that’s what’s going on. That’s what’s happening in this world right now.”

But the filmmakers and actors behind It hope audiences can recognize something hopeful in the story: There’s courage to be found in the Losers’ Club, and membership is open.

“It really is a film about sticking your neck out for others,” said Jessica Chastain, who plays the grown-up version of Beverly Marsh, played in the first by Sophia Lillis. “It’s about speaking up when you see someone being abused or bullied or attacked. You see so much of who the Losers are when we meet them [as adults] in the second film. They really wouldn’t be able to defend themselves, but they defend each other. I think that’s actually a really beautiful thing. It’s putting the other before the self.”

“Fear not” is an unlikely theme for a horror movie about a shape-shifting malevolent entity that devours people after tenderizing them with terror and misery, but King’s novel hasn’t endured for three decades based on creep-factor alone. Generations of outcasts have grown up cherishing the book, and the uplifting friendships at the center of the first film, released in 2017, were part of what brought moviegoers back again and again—making It the highest-grossing horror film in history.

Chapter Two aims both to celebrate bravery and to highlight a harsh lesson: that sometimes, the pain of the past can return to do more damage.

“It’s a scar that becomes leather. This, to me, is the biggest message of the film,” said producer Barbara Muschietti, the director’s sister and longtime collaborator. “At some point, you have to face it. You won’t be able to finish your life if you don’t get rid of that trauma. And we all have some…. They get courage through unity. Pennywise is a master of division. He basically wants to divide and conquer. Their victory stems from remembering who they were as kids, and what they were able to do when the scar was fresh.”

King has been effusive about the new It movies—saying they go beyond freak show scares to capture the emotion and resonance within his novel. Andy Muschietti understands that the story is scarier because It viewers care so much about the people who are in danger.

The heroes of It are so familiar that we’re still on a first-name basis with them: Bev, Mike, Ben, Bill, Eddie, Stanley, Richie—but they’re also recognizable as archetypes of the marginalized: An abused girl. An African American kid. An overweight boy. A stutterer. A sickly child. A Jew. A smart aleck whose jokes hide secret insecurities. “I think it’s hard to not see that symbolism because they’re such distinct characters and each one of them is dealing with such a personal issue,” said Isaiah Mustafa, who plays Mike Hanlon. “I would hope that most people who feel as though they’re the outcast, who think they’re able to see something familiar in this film, will then say, ‘This is where it stops for me. This will lead me into standing up and saying, No more.’”

Of course, this band of friends doesn’t represent every type of person who faces hardship or mistreatment. But part of the magic of the Losers is that they are bonded by what they share, not what makes them separate. “Those vulnerable people come in all sizes, you know?” said Bill Hader, who plays grown-up Richie “Trashmouth” Tozier, the class clown portrayed in the original by Finn Wolfhard. “But if you put a bunch of sticks together, it’s harder to break than individuals.”

If Chapter One was about the weak finding strength together, Chapter Two is about the responsibility the privileged owe to the unprotected.

Each member of the Losers’ Club has grown up to be successful and comfortable, living far, far away from Derry, a place they can barely remember now that they’ve escaped its thrall. They’re not in immediate danger when Pennywise resurfaces; they could choose to turn their backs on their hometown. The only one who remained behind is the Loser least able to change or hide who he is—Mike, one of Derry’s few black residents (played by Mustafa as an adult, and Chosen Jacobs as a kid).

“He’s totally aware,” Mustafa said. “I think that if you ask most African Americans who grew up in a predominantly white town, they’re very aware of who they are growing up, whether through unfortunate encounters with people who point it out for them or their parents telling them ‘Hey, listen, you need to be careful because you’re not like everybody here. You stand out.’ You have to have self-respect…and want to make sure that when people look at you, you’re definitely standing up for yourself.”

For Mike, that means embracing his role as a protector. He is a librarian, a researcher, a watchman, and a kind of Van Helsing, seeking a way to once-and-for-all conquer the intangible creature that lives within violence, bigotry, and fear. He sees the first evidence of Pennywise’s return in the aftermath of a hate crime: the murder of Adrian Mellon, played by actor and director Xavier Dolan.

The film begins with Adrian and his boyfriend being savagely attacked by a group of young men while walking home; Adrian ends up being hurled over the side of a bridge and into a canal. That’s when the rejuvenated Pennywise sinks his teeth into the mortally wounded young man—having been awakened from hibernation by this nauseating act of hatred. “I thought that beginning was so powerful,” said Hader. “Now we’re in the world of adults. This is real. This happens, and this is the news now.”

That scene wasn’t included in the 1990 It TV miniseries, but it was a crucial part of King’s novel. The author based it on a real-life hate crime that devastated Bangor, Maine, in 1984: the murder of Charlie Howard, a 23-year-old gay man who was attacked and drowned by three teenagers.

Andy Muschietti felt it was important to include the sequence in Chapter Two—and he and screenwriter Gary Dauberman also added an additional LGBTQ subplot that King has enthusiastically approved. Without revealing the spoiler, the new thread is intended as an awakening of acceptance, a moment of sweetness that points to positive change. “We are a society that really worked to leave our differences behind, and value equality,” Muschietti said. “All these things actually make a community live in harmony.”

Young people tend to know this instinctively unless they’re taught otherwise. King’s story is about adults remembering what it was like before their idealism faded and their resolve wilted. ”As you get older, something kind of happens. You start to second-guess yourself a little bit more,” said Jay Ryan, who plays adult Ben Hanscom—the kid tormented for being overweight, originated by Jeremy Ray Taylor. “I feel like It is an inspiring film about breaking down those masks that we’ve got, and reconnecting with your more innocent self, your more childlike self.”

It’s probably not a great sign of the times that even a horror movie serves as a reminder of hope and optimism. But here we are. “We’re living in a world right now where people are feeding on each other, in some sense because they feel so disenfranchised that they want to make sure that no one takes theirs,” Chastain said. “I think there’s nothing more isolating than that.”

Scary stories for kids always have a simple moral: Don’t cry wolf. Don’t talk to strangers. For adult moviegoers, It: Chapter Two is a more complicated cautionary tale: You’re not alone, unless you go alone.

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