When describing his take on the reboot of IT, Stephen King, arguably one of the greatest writers of all time, said that he ‘wasn’t quite prepared for how good it was going to be’. And how right he was. After years of development and nearly being scrapped on numerous occasions, Andy Muschietti’s IT has finally made it to the big screen, appealing to all types of fans. If you’re looking for a good movie to watch, here’s our review of IT to put forward a case. Whether you’re a Stephen King fan, a horror movie fan or just a movie buff, this is a must see movie right now.
Stephen King: Serial Storyteller
King’s books have been adapted for film over 60 times. Some are fantastic, such as The Green Mile, Misery and Shawshank Redemption. Other were pretty awful and fell right into the B movie genre. As a massive King fan, when I watched the original IT mini-series after reading the book, I thought it was a ball of shite. Aside from Tim Curry, the three-hour mini-series just doesn’t scare audiences in this day and age. And as for the only book, I’ve only ever had to put down because it genuinely creeped me out.
The 2017 adaption of IT really does the book justice. After being released worldwide for only three days, it’s still earned 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, impressive for most movies, let along a horror movie. IT is still expected to break all kinds of records over the coming days and weeks.
What’s IT About?
IT follows a group of kids called ‘The Losers’ Club’ in the fictional town of Derry, a town unlike ordinary towns. People go missing six times the national average in Derry and it’s mostly children. The Losers’ Club decides to do some digging. They discover Derry has a dark history and start seeing visions of things that scare them individually. One thing they all have in common is a dancing clown called Pennywise.
Don’t go in there, why did you go in there?
The film builds tension that makes you say ‘Don’t go in there’, ‘Why did you go in there?’ ‘I told you not to go in there’. This tension building is spread out even more as the movie goes on, really leaving you on the edge of your seat. I even found myself covering my eyes a couple of times.
Meet Pennywise
Bill Skarsgard plays Pennywise amazingly on the big screen. He combines humour and fear to captivate the audience in a way that leaves you looking forward to seeing the clown on screen again. Of course, you dread it too. Tim Curry’s Pennywise was good but leaned more towards the funny, manipulative side of his character. The true horror of Pennywise is very much reflected through Skarsgard performance. We’ve seen a lot of Pennywise in the trailers, but he has a lot more to offer on screen. As a big King fan, I have to tip my hat to Skarsgard in his portrayal of Pennywise.
The Loser’s Club
The Losers’ Club is a group of seven friends who are all experiencing the horror’s of IT. They band together after kids in Derry start to go missing in order to try and kill IT. The great thing about them is that one of them will probably remind you of yourself when you were in school. Bill, Beverly, Mike, Stan, Richie, Eddie and Ben are all battling their own demons, which IT feeds off of. We get good back stories on the characters and after only an hour in, you are rooting them on to win and destroy IT. The chemistry between the characters is great and the actors did a great job creating a bond in the group.
We see a lot of humour between the characters, particularly from loud mouth Richie Tozier who is very quick off the mark with his one liners. These scenes are what separates IT from standard horror movies. Instead of being held in suspense from start to finish, the witty humour breaks this tension enough so that we can relax. But it’s never too long until we’re thrown back onto an emotional roller coaster.
Not only are they being pursued by IT, but they also get a lot of hassle from Henry Bowers, the school bully who also struggles with his own demons at home. As the film goes on Henry seem’s to get crazier and you are really hoping he dies. The point of his character is to build camaraderie between the Losers and get you on their side. Since everything seems to be going against them, Henry only drives them on more.
Perfect Imperfections
But not every movie is perfect. There are maybe a couple of cheap jump scares, but they are there to show that IT can be anywhere and at any time. This also compounds the fact that the children of Derry are never safe. If you can get passed these scares and understand why they are there, then you will enjoy this movie a lot more.
Also, maybe a couple of characters got a bit more of a backstory then others. I felt like maybe one character in particular who plays a big part in the film didn’t get the back story they deserved. But again, as a film on its own, it’s easy to overlook unless you’re picky enough to let something like this get in the way of enjoying what is a great movie.
The Verdict
IT is fantastic, doing a great job of reflecting the different personalities in the Losers’ Club while Pennywise was absolutely fantastic and I loved every bit of him on screen. The film had a good mix of humour and suspense and scares makes it stand out from most horrors today. For maybe the first time ever, I walked out of the theatre of a horror where I thought ‘I can’t wait for the sequel.’
