IT Review

I don’t watch a lot of horror movies but IT is an amazing film. I find the art of horror movie reboots very interesting. It can show the differences between what sacred one generation and what scares another.

(SPOILERS AHEAD) IT is the story of Billy, Stan, Bev, Richie, Mike, Ben, and Eddie. The seven of them are kids living in a town called Derry. The film begins with gruesome death of Billy’s brother Georgie. Since no one saw Georgie die, his brother is convinced that he is just lost and spends the whole movie looking for him with his friends but what they do find is something much more frightening.

Pennywise the Dancing Clown is our villain, now in the original mini series IT (1990), does a poor job at explaining what exactly IT is. This film explains it better but still is somewhat difficult to understand. The best way I can explain IT is by saying he is primarily based on belief, in the way that he can only hurt, scare, kill, etc if you believe he can. Another note is that IT isn’t Pennywise the Dancing Clown but rather that is the form he chooses to take, IT is a shape shifter. The design of Pennywise is very creepy and is not as colorful as the series. The white and red makes him look empty in a strange and creepy way. Bill Skarsgard was perfect for this role. Bill has this dead-looking face that was perfect for Pennywise.

Everyone of the kids has a perk, Billy st-st-stutters, Richie makes a lot of dirty jokes, and Ben knows a lot about the history of Derry but I felt like some characters didn’t need to be in the movie because they were just bland, Stan for example is Jewish, that’s it. I feel like they could have done something more with some of the kids but I haven’t read the book so maybe he is more important in the adult segment of the story. I really feel the bond between these kids, they did a great job making me feel for them, making me think they care and love each other. One thing I felt was kind of pointless is the love triangle thing between Billy, Ben, and Bev. It just went nowhere but I don’t know maybe that plays more of a part in the adult segment.

The film had a lot more freedom than the series from 1990 due to the bigger budget and R rating. Although I felt some of the CGI kind of sucked. For example there is a scene were Pennywise is stabbed and the blood that gushes out looks right above YouTube effects but I felt like the CGI was excused by the visuals. I feel The Leper is the scariest thing this film. Another unsettling scene was when Georgie had his arm bitten off and he just crawls away and it’s terrifying. There are times were in any other movie I’d think Bill Skarsgard is overacting but this movie is supposed to be a little cheesy so I’m going to excuse it.

As a whole I really enjoyed IT, in my opinion IT is the horror film of my generation.