It - Review - Mind on Movies

R: September 8th, 2017 | R: 135 minutes | R: R

The town of Derry, Maine is truly terrifying. Adults are six times more likely to go missing or be killed than any other town. But the children's rates are much, much worse. After Georgie (played by Jackson Robert Scott) and other numerous children going missing, Georgies older brother, Bill (played by Jaeden Lieberher) and the rest of the loser club, go on the hunt for the missing children. But there’s one problem, whatever is kidnapping the children, will feed on the loser clubs fears to abduct them too.

This horrifying film is directed by Andy Muschietti, who has previously directed the 2013 hit “Mama”. And while this film is based on the Steven King novel, and the 90’s Tim Curry mini-series, I am going to strictly review this film on its own merits. I have to get this out of the way, “IT” was brilliant. Truly a step in the right direction for the horror genre. To start off, I do not think this film relied on scares alone. Rather, it fueled on being a beautiful character piece. And the character development was what really made this film for me. Starting off with the cast, all the kids in the loser club were absolutely fantastic. Each of the seven kids were given the perfect amount of screen time to flush their characters out. And Muschietti was able to draw amazing performances out of these young actors. Jaeden Lieberher (previously seen in “Midnight Special” and “The Book of Henry”) stood out doing a phenomenal job as the stuttering leader of pack, thriving to find his little brother. Jeremy Ray Taylor (seen in “Ant-Man” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip”) also did a great job playing the bullied new kid on the block. But the highlight of the film was Sophia Lillis (who has been seen in “37” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”). She did a stellar job playing the abused and bullied character of Beverly Marsh. Her character had so much depth, leaving the audience to feel incredibly empathetic towards her.

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Now opposing the losers club was Henry Bowers, played by Nicholas Hamilton (whose previous works include “Captain Fantastic” and “The Dark Tower”). Nicholas did an amazing job showing the brutality of bullies. He literally seemed evil, and the audience hated him as he continued to mischievously pick on the losers club. And the final character I wanted to address was “IT” himself...Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgard (as seen in “Atomic Blonde” and “Simple Simon”). He was horrifyingly creepy. This merciless entity was terrifying, as he messed with the losers clubs minds. I absolutely adored his preformance.

Now while the cast gave fantastic performances, they would not have been able to present their talents nearly as well without the brilliant writing of the characters. They each were given the perfect amount of screen time to gain the audience's love. And unlike most horror films, the characters are actually smart. They do not make the cliche, dumb horror movie choices. These characters were so realistic and captured childhood perfectly. Especially with all the humor presented by the group of friends. And as childish as the humor was, it never became annoyingly childish. The adventurous spirit of the kids was brilliantly brought to life by the director. But what the director really captured well, was the love triangle that is seen in the film. The audience feels for both sides evenly. But on another side of the dice, the losers club had a great feeling of unity. What really caught me off guard was the subtext in this film. It got very deep at points, and there was some great symbolism thrown into the picture. All these minor details took a good film and crafted it into a great film.

Now since this is a horror film, I do have to address the scares. And while it does have a few stupid jump scares, the majority of the scares are truly horrifying. This movie has major guts. It shows stuff that most production studios would shy away from. Especially with the children. It keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole ride. And the imagery is insane. Like I mentioned earlier, “IT” shows stuff that most films of this genre would shy away from.

Visually, the cinematography was beautiful, Chung-hoon Chung (who worked on “Oldboy” and “Me and Earl and The Dying Girl”) did a great job. And the editing choices by Jason Ballantine (who worked on “The Great Gatsby” and “Mad Max: Fury Road”) were very clean. As a whole this film flows very well. The one hundred and thirty five minute run time flies by so fast. “IT” was very entertaining.

To conclude this review, I absolutely adored “IT”. The film absolutely stood up to all the hyped, and added so much more depth than I was expecting. But the characters are what really topped it off for me. It was very hard to come up with flaws for this picture. I believe it will definitely be remembered as one of the best horror films of this decade, alongside films like “The Conjuring”, “It Follows”, and “The Babadook”. I have to recommend all horror fans, and anyone who will appreciate the relationship between the losers club and the brilliant character development.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Cabell (Contributor) is a filmmaker from Tampa, Florida. He will watch just about any film but when he's not reviewing the latest hits he spends time directing films of his own.
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The highly anticipated reboot of Stephen King’s clown horror that traumatized an entire generation of children has arrived at last. Does the new It have the same bite that will instill a deep-seated fear of clowns for decades to come? Despite its source material that centers around fear and how to overcome it, the cinematic version of the story offers a great viewing experience but lacks the ability to terrorize its audience.

A series of disappearances of children strike the small town of Derry, Maine. When one such child goes missing, his brother takes it upon himself to search for him against all odds. In a dangerous town with a death rate multiple times that of the national average, six kids find themselves intertwined on a quest to save themselves and to find closure for terror that lurks underneath their homes. Brought together by bullying and their shared status as the “Losers Club”, the six children find themselves being haunted by visions of their deepest fears and a clown attempting to murder them. When they realize that the clown is actually a dark spirit that brings to life the children’s darkest fears, the children must band together to fight for their lives and to overcome their worst nightmares.

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For a movie that centers around our darkest fears, It finds itself struggling to truly capture the terror it wants us to feel. Although Pennywise the Clown is well-portrayed and wonderfully envisioned, the film falls short of truly horrifying its viewers. The suspense that naturally comes with the territory holds its own for the first quarter of the film, instilling a sense of dread of what’s to come. But that soon fades away as the film consistently resorts to jump scares and repeating the same situations over again. Worst of all, some of the scenes that had the greatest shock potential were all revealed in the marketing leading up to the movie’s release. Most shockingly, however, is that despite some truly terrible and dark themes and stories, the movie remains relatively optimistic throughout. Despite the death of a brother, domestic abuse, bullying, and more, the film glosses over some of its darker themes to feel more like a coming-of- age adventure story than a shocking and grotesque horror movie. For a film based on a book and a mini-series well established as some of the scariest pieces of fiction of their times, It just doesn’t really feel all that scary.

As a result of its own fear of being too scary, It doesn’t really feel like a very good horror movie. But it is still a good movie overall. Capturing some of the same funky, outcast feeling as breakout hit Stranger Things, It is a surprisingly good horror-ish adventure film. The characters and their friendship is endearing and fun to watch. The obscene jokes and the childish antics are fun and fresh, lending to the film’s success. The teamwork and camaraderie truly highlight the stellar cast and has a wonderful ability of pulling its audience in. The film makes you feel emotionally invested in its characters. Despite not giving some characters enough, each character that actually has plentiful screentime is well fleshed with their own distinct personalities. With such colorful characters wrapped around an exciting storyline, it is no wonder why the film is able to hold its intrigue. Even despite the lack of horror, the film manages to make the story interesting and unique enough to hold its own as an independent version of the cult classics.

With a fascinating story, a unique and interesting take on Pennywise the Clown, and the stellar cast, It actually ends up being a good movie. Just maybe not that good of a horror movie. Short of petrifying moments, It serves more as a well-executed adventure film than it does a pre-Halloween scream fest. But this movie suggests that maybe it’s better that way.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Johnny (Senior Contributor) was born and raised in San Diego. He's been a fan of films the majority of his life. He enjoys the feeling it invokes and the power it has to take you to another place.
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'IT' is a fantastic and frightening experience propelled by great performances. The film captures the essence of the book while also giving the audience the same nostalgic feel that Stranger Things did last year. It reveals suggesting coming-of-age themes underneath while Pennywise, played by a great Bill Skarsgård, haunts our beloved "Loser's Club". Each boy or girl in the club has a backstory which ultimately connects to Pennywise and the town they live in, Derry. Among the young cast, Sophia Lillis's performance stands out as the most nuanced.

The only issue with 'IT' is its lack of subtlety when dealing with horror elements, such as jump scares and startling CGI. Skarsgård's design of Pennywise often feels silly and cartoonish as opposed to Tim Curry's terrifying version of Pennywise, and the effects are hit or miss.

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Gerardo (Contributor) is a film student living in Philadelphia. He usually prefers independent and classic films, but he will watch anything in theaters.
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