It (2017) – Movie Review

I’m not too much into horror. Not at all. While I do love crazy zombie movies and such, horror is not my thing. And so my decision to view the new It movie would make this film my first experience of seeing a horror movie in a theater. It scared me, unnerved me, and gave me a terrifying villain to fear, making this a horror movie that will fulfill the desires of fans of this film genre and bring in newcomers to the dark world of Stephen King.

To start, the child actors were phenomenal. William "Bill" Denbrough, playing the leader of the Losers Club, played his character perfectly, stutter and all. Sophia Lillis, as Beverly Marsh, was the perfect female outcast, bullied for slander, continually abused by her disturbing, probably pedophilic father, yet was capable of being able to be strong and make new friends with the losers club. Chosen Jacobs, as Michael Hanlon, having a history with the town of Derry and even having some knowledge of the dangers of the town. These are only a few of the protagonists in the Losers Club, yet to put these children as the main heroes of a horror film is something people don’t see often, or at least not without some adult characters being there to protect and guide them. These kids though performed their roles in this gruesome, yet realistic tale in a way I believe many horror films have been unable to do. Every single one of them acted so believable as they fought to survive the relentless attacks by the monsters of film.

When I mean monsters, I don’t just mean Pennywise and his demonic conjurations. With it being the late 80s, the Losers Club have to also deal with some really screwed up bullies, especially the sociopathic Henry Bowers, played by Nicholas Hamilton. This character was terrifying, he was a constantly loose cannon, beating kids into near unconsciousness, making deep cuts into people, and even attempting murder on those who get in his way. While this can make him look one-dimensional, the intensity of what he does without ever considering the consequences of his actions, along with his obsession of always wanting to end up on top, turn him into a character we fear almost as much as the main villain of the movie.

Pennywise was master of evil in this film, unrelenting in its quest to feed on the children of Derry. While the original Pennywise, played by Tim Curry, was a lot more comedic of a clown (to the point I could hardly see him as terrifying), the new Pennywise, played Bill Skarsgård, blew Tim Curry out of the water in terms of scariness with its malicious and monstrous personality. Only in the beginning, when Georgie meets the clown, was there a bit of genuine clown-ness. And even a short time after meeting Georgie that silliness twisted itself into something more sinister and wicked, making that first kill something that made me and my friends shiver in shock. And that was only the start of the film, before the title even appeared on screen. Every time that clown appears on screen afterwards I got on my guard, watching out for whatever demonic apparitions it thought could scare its victims the most. Pennywise was an entity that, while taking the form of a clown, was never funny to me, my fellow viewers, and the people of Derry, yet it believed it was always funny, turning everything about it into an even more terrifying monster. His spastic and twisted movements, his unsettling smiles, the hair-raising way he talks to the kids, all of it has turned the previously hilarious incarnation of this character in the legendary horror that has made so many people become coulrophobic.

The creativity in Pennywise showing the fears of the characters who encountered the clown was incredible. Unlike many recent horror films, which are becoming more and more reliant on jump-scares, It went back the classics of horror by making most of the scares come from gradual buildup of fear before the scares happen. While this has made the film feel similar to the TV series, Stranger Things (especially since one of the main cast of Stranger Things, Finn Wolfhard (Richard Tozier), it has resulted in a more terrifying experience for me and the other members of the audience. And these scares built up more and more, with more frightening ones happening as the story got closer to the climax. While I won’t tell what exactly happens, I will say it’s definitely worth every second of film, especially compared to the original movie’s ridiculous friendship circle chanting climax. Man that was just weak.

This is a hard film for me to say bad things about, though that also could be from my lack of experience with horror films. If I had to say something bad about the film though I feel like the trailers for the movie indicated that the adults were a part of or knowingly ignored the acts of Pennywise as he murdered and stole the children of Derry. Watching the film though I felt like the adults of the town just seem to ignore the trouble the evil entity made. For instance, there is a scene where the girl, Beverly, had a geyser of blood hit her in the face in her bathroom and cover the whole room in blood. Like there was no space that was no red after all that blood came out of the sink, yet her father hardly even noticed anything and acted like Beverly had her period and did his whole pedo-incest thing towards her. Only Michael’s father had any clue about the town’s dark history, but he just kept away from the town and just lived on with his life. Maybe this way of directing of how the adults acted like nothing was wrong made them look like they just accepted Pennywise’s attacks on the children of Derry as something regular, but I was somewhat hoping that there would be a bit more explained as to why the adults of the town acted the way they did. But again, that’s just a small complaint I have, everything else was just fantastic!

Another small complaint I, along with my friends when we discussed the movie, could say about this film is that the kids are very vulgar in their language. First time seeing the Losers Club at school I was a bit surprised by the language they use. I wasn’t expecting the kids to be swear the way they did. Again though, this is a small complain and hardly effects how I feel on the film in general.

Overall Analysis:

Before going to my final points, it has been recently confirmed there will be a sequel to this film. Not only has It become the most successful R-rated horror film in history, this film is only half the source material. The original book has two timelines to it, the first part being about the kids conflict with Pennywise and second part being the now grown up Losers Club having to return to Derry when children begin to disappear again. It will be a few years before this sequel comes out, but I am damn sure it’ll terrifying us just as much, if not more, than this film.

It was a fantastic start to my first trip into the world of true horror films. The scares were amazing, the actors, especially the child actors, made the story almost real to me, and the pacing of the story was spot on. The director, Andy Muschietti, will be remembered for years and years for his incredible creation of this R-rated masterpiece. For its sensational story and near perfect uses of fear and the unknown, I give the 2017 version of It a 9.5 out of 10. When I walked out of that movie theater, I felt so filled with pleasure I felt I would float in the air with joy.

And you’ll float too.

You’ll float too!

YOU’LL FLOAT TOO!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!