IT review

Well by now most fans and cool people have seen the 90’s t.v. version of the novel ”IT.”

A tale told in 1958 with kids and then again 27 years later with adults. The gist of the tale is a town where kids get killed a lot then nothing and then years later it starts again. All this is centered around the town of Derry, Maine. The antagonist is  clown named Pennywise that is not what he appears to be. The clown is a façade for some more sinister and ancient and he loves gobbling up kiddos!

A group of kid dubbed “The Losers Club” face their fear of the town, bullies and the clown. The they get older and have to deal with this all over again.

The 90’s version is pretty unwatchable now, but it gets the point of the story across.

IT has been remade for the big screen with an R rating and may be the best Stephen King book to movie adaptation yet (not saying much as the majority of his book-movies are pretty bad).

Alright then. “IT” review!

The year is 1988 and we are in Derry, Maine. Kids are going missing. Adults don’t seem to care. The summer has started. One group of kids calling themselves/ being dubbed the Losers Club have all seen scary stuff and a creepy clown. They also share a group of bullies who of course torment them. Of course the kids face their fears, their bully and the creepy not clown clown monster. We all kind of know what is going  on here, well unless you live under a rock or just hate horror movies, books or clowns.

 

“IT” hits the high points of the book and 90’s mini-series (for those who haven’t read the tome) fairly well: clown. monster. kids. bullies. fear.

fear facing/strength in numbers.

“IT” is way better than the 90’s version for sure, but the film is not perfect. There are a lot of glaring changes that I have no idea why they did them.

Neibolt House

Why the 80’s? There was no reason not to set this then. Was this a nostalgia grab like so much other stuff right now? Could audiences not grasp the concept of the late 50’s? So when the second half of the film can be set modern day. Ugh! Why make this change?

You take the character of Mike Hanlon and he goes from the historian and chronicler of the group to token kid of color. His role was pretty insignificant in the film. Well accept for the fact that he helps his grandfather kill sheep on a farm. This introduces the group to the pneumatic gun they use to fight Pennywise with later in the film. Umm...I know originally it was a slingshot the kids used, and that is old timey now. Seriously you have to have a pneumatic pistol instead of a slingshot though? I mean if one cannot understand the concept of sling shot, then just use a BB or pellet gun instead. Why bother with this whole side arc where Mike kills sheep and just happens to have access to a CO2 pistol. It was just a really stupid choice. Well that and the whole Mike Hanlon is just token kid of color now instead of what he was in the book.

There are subtle changes from the story that are head scratchers; Henry Bowers’ dad is a cop, is Bev’s dad a pedo  (it sure seemed like that is where they might be going with it) why the Bar Mitzvah scene, why the slide show projector scene, no dam but instead a gerbil habitrail project. You know just little tweaks for the sake of needless tweaks.

Then the addition of the jarring loud noise jump scare stuff. BLERG! Why does this still happen? This silence then obnoxious loud noise occurs stuff is still being done? Does it still really scare people? It is such a lowest common demnominator tactic in horror. It really pulled me out of the film when they did this crap. This movie didn’t need this kind of gimmick.

These are my nit-picky issues.

Now the Pennywise stuff was spot on fantastic! I know Tim Curry’s Pennywise was creepy, silly and sort of fun. The 2017 Pennywise is a really terrifying threat and nowhere near silly and creepy fun. The make-up, which I though looked kind of meh! Really looks great on film. His presence is just the stuff of horror legend. Like Wolfman, Frankenstein, Dracula and 2017 Pennywise. Sure there is a lot of computer animation along with him, but it works so well. This clown means business and there is nothing silly about him. Just really great horror stuff going on here.

The plot is pretty tight and for over two hours doesn’t slog. It is also is pretty intense. Which is something I have been missing from horror movies for a long long time. I think the last time I a horror film had this level of intensity was…..the first time I saw The Exorcist. The opening ten minutes set the pace for the type of horror we are going to receive, and brother is it worth it!

The kids put in good performances. It also helps that they are still (mostly) kids not 20-somethings playing teens. Their interactions are great. Their language and humor is pretty on point for their age. Their friendships , sans Mike Hanlon, are very believable.

Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise is just a whole lot of amazing!

 

There was a some good shock value here and the movie really deserves the R rating. Also, thank you for an R rating. A PG-13 would have put more butts in the seats, but it would have diluted the movie too much.

Besides a few minor issues “IT” is a damn fine horror movie. The best Stephen King book to movie yet ( well so far I am still 500+ pages from finishing the novel ). The main points of the book are hit. The scary stuff good and intense. A damn fine horror movie to see in theater and well worth your time.