IT...is here! The theatrical version of IT is here. Ok, because of the trailers and watching the 1990 TV movie, which was fine and definitely dated but jolted by Tim Curry's spooky performance, the movie catapulted into one of my anticipated movies of the fall. And, I am not a big horror fanatic. However, to specify, I abhor "torture-porn" horror movies than psychological thriller/horror movies because directors and writers want to showcase graphic violence as entertainment with not much context. It is disguised as fun which makes me queasy. Here, it is a psychological horror/thriller about kids trying to confronting their fears, even though the hype is surrounding its main villain, Pennywise.
So, even though I was looking forward to this movie, there was a chance that this Stephen King adaptation could be pretty good because of The Dark Tower last month. Now, having seen IT, this is actually one of the best Stephen King adaptations mostly because of the camaraderie between the kids, aka The Loser's Club and they balance the comedy, drama and scares well. I felt like they were more of the stars than the villain.
In the year 1988, in Derry, Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) helps his little brother, Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) making a paper sailboat. Bill is unable to go outside because of illness but Georgie goes outside to plays with sailboat despite the raining conditions. Georgie sails his boat down the street and accidentally hits a roadblock as the paper boat sails down the street into the sewer. Worried that Bill might get angry, Georgie tries to retrieve it until he sees a pair of yellow eyes emerging, which is the dancing clown, Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard). Pennywise playfully speaks to Georgie and drags him down into the sewers.
A year later, we meet Bill and more kids on the last day of school. Bill and his friends - Richie (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer) and Stanley (Wyatt Oleff) form the Losers Club and head out to have fun for the summer. But, also, they are tormented by the school's bully, Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton) and his gang, even though his father is a police officer (Stuart Hughes). We also follow three more kids: Beverly Marsh (Sophia Willis), a girl who is being bullied as she is labeled as a slut, Ben Hascom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), a boy bullied for his weight and Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), a boy who flees from seeing burnt hands disguised as Pennywise but also being bullied by the gang because of his color.
The boys joined by Ben and Beverly, after she distracts the pharmacist by seducing him while the boys steal bandages and cotton balls, jump into a lake to have fun, swimming and also learning Derry's history. Also, one by one, they are experience hauntings from Pennywise as their fears are confronting them, also interconnecting the kids and making the Losers Club a stronger bond of people.
I am not going to go deep into how I thought of the movie because I want you to solely experience yourself how you would feel after the movie is over. But, walking out, I was very surprised at how good this adaptation was. It moves at a very good pace in about 2 hours and 15 minutes and you identify with the kids because it traces you back to when you were a little kid or teenager having any fear haunting you and still, it could haunt you as an adult.
Bill Skarsgard is quite good as the terrifying clown because underneath all that makeup, he evokes a tiny innocence before it transforms into a disturbing terror that will be in your mind for a while. It will keep you up at night once you see the movie, if you are afraid of clowns. However, like I said about the balance, I buy all the kids as normal, regular children spewing off profanity, performing summer routines and also living in their somewhat inconsistent family lives, for example, Beverly's domestic life. It is reminiscent of Stand By Me and Super 8.
Director Andy Muschietti, who made his debut with Mama (which was decent that had the potential become better), did a great job by adapting his own style of mixing the horror elements with the comedic elements with support of the suburban style of the 1980s, that traces back to E.T. I think what takes points off for me is that the destination is so good with the children, that it sort of loses its way with the climactic sequence that felt a bit too dark and also a bit spotty with the editing where there is one story more focused than the other. To be quite honest, even though there are scares, it was not as scary and that is personal because my fear is not clowns. (But, if people who are afraid of clowns who wants to go see this movie, either do NOT go see this movie or go with a group of friends.) I believe that this movie will keep floating throughout this month and most likely during October as it gets closer to Halloween because it is a great movie to watch during that holiday.
***1/2
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