(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) – Still in theaters, “It” marks the second adaptation of Stephen King’s acclaimed novel. The movie takes place during the late 1980s in Derry, Maine – which is apparently the only state King novels ever seem to take place. A group of kids find themselves tormented by a terrifying entity known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the small town.
“It” is a horror film. Throughout the film, Pennywise is tormenting children across Derry with his evil powers. The scares can be very creative such as burning hands crying out for help, dead corpses walking towards you or gallons of blood bursting from the sink. The movie contains the messed up, psychological horror that King is known for.
The film is not all scares though, it has beautiful cinematography. It’s not just in the scary sequences. There are several moments that take place in the peaceful outdoors. The shots of the river and the woods are just so calming. It provides a welcomed relief from the intensity in other scenes. Also surprising, there is plenty of comedy in this movie. Every now and then, the kids will crack jokes at each other – usually consist of remarks about nether regions and someone’s mother. Like the scenery, the comedy was a welcomed break from the horror.
The child actors are great, giving performances worthy of adult actors. In truth, they are better than some of the adults in this movie. They play good characters as well. I haven’t felt so compelled by a group of kids since “Stand By Me”, another King adaption. Stephen King may create cliché characters, but he does a good job writing kids. Many will recognize Finn Wolfhard, who plays Richie, because he plays Mike Wheeler in “Stranger Things”. It’s worth noting that “Stranger Things” took a lot of inspiration from Stephen King’s stories.
Stephen King is a great writer, but I feel this movie suffers from his tropes that every fan of King’s is familiar with. These are the recurring characters that appear in almost every King story: the pure evil bully, the jerk and the mean grownups. As I said before, most of his stories tend to be set in Maine. I am grateful that other King tropes don’t make an appearance such as the horror writer, the recovering alcoholic, or the religious fanatic. None of these characters are bad characters; they just become annoying when you realize they appear in most, if not all, of King’s works.
“It” also has some flaws other than the King tropes. The movie sometimes relies too heavily on scary music. I think the horror would have been a lot more effective if “dramatic” music did not appear in every scary scene. It can be predictable at times too, epically when a sudden scare is about to happen, better known as jump scares. My biggest issue is the start of the film. As the opening title sequence is appearing on screen, little children can be heard singing a creepy song in the background. This is a cheap, lazy way to make the audience feel afraid. I thought this movie was too good to rely on either dramatic music or a creepy nursery rhyme, which are both used often in bad horror films.
I feel this movie should come with a disclaimer. “It” is a mature film; it contains blood, bad language… and child murder. Pennywise the Dancing Clown feeds off the fear of children; he also kills and eats them. There is not a lot of child murder shown on film, but in addition to being referenced several times, the opening scene is very brutal. And if you don’t like clowns, I will let you be the judge on if you should watch “It”.
I don’t know if Bill Skarsgard’s performance as Pennywise is better than Tim Curry’s. I have never seen the original mini-series, nor have I read the book. I do think Skargard’s Pennywise is disturbing. He never made me laugh, but he did make me nervous. In reality, Pennywise is the not the worst character in “It”. One could argue that some of the human characters are just as bad as he is or worse.
I am not a fan of horror films, so I didn’t originally want to see this movie. Despite that, I enjoyed watching “It”. I found some of the horror to be really creative, almost like Edgar Allan Poe. It was very well made, and well acted. However, it’s not perfect. If you are a horror fan, you’ll probably like “It”. If you are not, you still might like “It”. I thought the movie was very good, and I look forward to watching the sequel – There is a sequel to “It” coming out. This one will show Pennywise coming after the kids as adults, which happens in the novel and the mini-series.