Movie Review: IT

IT

Movie Review by Siobahn Harris

This is the movie I have been waiting for!! Finally!! Here is what I was looking for, True Fear (twisted things that will haunt you for days), great story, how close it is to what I know of the book, is it anything like the previous one, jump scares, and would I watch it again?

You know how this works, let’s go over the basics.

The movie starts with Bill, who is sick, making a paper boat for his little brother, Georgie. He covers the paper boat in wax so that it will float on the water collecting outside in the rain. Once the boat was complete, Georgie ran outside and let the SS Georgie flow with the water. However, when it gets swept into the drain, he comes face to face with a clown, Pennywise the Dancing Clown, hiding in the gutter. After a lovely talk, Pennywise decides he is done talking and bites off Georgie’s arm and then drags him into the gutter. As time goes on, Bill never forgets his little brother and continues trying to figure out where he went. His group of friends even go searching for where he thinks Georgie may be, while they don’t find him, they do make friends with a new kid who was being bullied. Their group gathered two more people and they begin spending the whole summer together, but not like the other kids. He and his friends, known as The Loser’s Club, figure out that they have all seen this clown, Pennywise. The more they search for Georgie and the other missing children of the town the more they are hunted by Pennywise. The children must find a way to survive their terrifying summer of clowns, bullies, parents, and everything else they fear, each kid just wishing they could go play like normal kids.

Okay, so I want to start by saying, I did love this movie just like I expected I would. However, I promised that I would be honest, and if something wasn’t right, I would tell you, so here it comes.

I am going to be totally honest, I have not fully read the book. Come on, don’t look at me like that! I have it, I will get around to it but I just haven’t yet. However, just going based on what I have read I was thrilled with how close this movie got. I very much felt like I was watching the book come to life. I thought that was beautiful. When Pennywise took Georgie, it was absolutely perfect. I watched the original movie when I was a kid and Tim Curry terrified me. So, when I got older, I started reading the book, which scared me way more. I then tried to go back and watch the old movie and was left disappointed because I turned into one of those people, “The book was better.” However, this movie just nailed it.

Pennywise the Dancing Clown was so beautifully creepy! He drooled as he spoke to Georgie, his dead eye kept falling out of place, his clothes looked dingy and gross, and he could hardly contain a cheerful voice. Not to mention, this creepy ass clown knows how to make an entrance! One minute, everything would be lovely and peaceful and then BOOM you are starring at a clown twisting and cracking his way out of a minifridge. There are also touches of Pennywise everywhere, I saw at least three hidden places that said “IT” when he was about to attack. It was like, there was no chance for these kids to get away. Beautiful!

The writing of this movie was perfect. These kids were kids and I loved that! It was like watching a bunch of preteen boys just being boys. Their banter, the way they had a spitting contest, the dirty jokes, the mom jokes, the way they starred at the one girl who would hang out with them, it was great! I always look for realistic characters and that isn’t the easiest thing to find in movies, but this one was great. I even loved how Ben, the new kid in the group and new to the town, stood up for himself against anyone. At one point, he was being attacked by the bullies and he not only fought back but got away, and then later when his friends are in his room, one of the boys says his stuff isn’t cool and he quickly corrects him and says, “Yes it is.” Good for him!

Sometimes, movies can overdo it with jump scares and with this one, I’m torn. Yes, there was an ass load of jump scares but most of them seemed perfect for the scene. However, there were two that seemed like cheap jump scares and in a movie like this, there is no need to use cheap jump scares. All I will say is, the walkie talkie, not needed.

Pennywise seems to feed off of your fears. This made the characters very relatable. The fears were real and ones that we all feel from time to time or all the time. Fear of clowns, germs, the dark, the unknown, the dead, your parents (for whatever reason that may be), and more. The fears struck me as ones that anyone could have and that brought the characters to life.

The one girl in the group, Beverly, had a terrifying encounter with Pennywise. She literally got a blood bath. What I loved most about this scene was that it took me back to one of my other favorite movies, Nightmare on Elm Street. The scene when Johnny Depp gets snatched into his bed and the blood just goes bananas all over his room. What made it even better was that later on there is a movie theater now showing sign that says, “Nightmare on Elm Street”. I can’t help but to wonder if this was a shout out to the wonderful work of Wes Craven.

One scene that I just can’t get out of my head would have to be the projector scene. It was so awesome and terrifying that it actually had me jump back a little. It was beautifully done and really showed what they were willing to bring to the table just to scare the shit out of these kids. Awesome.

Okay, so while I don’t want to, I have to touch on the things I hated about this movie.

There were times that the movements were weird. I am not sure if this was a creative aspect but it just came across as odd to me. For instance, when Pennywise would move his head at times or when the kids were running, it seemed like they were adding in CGI (computer generated imagery), which seemed unnecessary because the character was just standing outside or just running. It took me out of the scene and reminded me that I was just watching a movie.

When Beverly brought the boys over to her house to see the blood that covered her bathroom, they all decided to clean it. That’s fine but why did it break into an 80s movie montage to clean it all up. It went from scary clown movie to silly 80s flick in like 5seconds.

Pennywise sometimes reminded me of Jim Carey playing the Grinch. Don’t get me wrong, I loved that movie but definitely not what I want to see when I want something scary! I want to be terrified not giggling. Another thing, why did he kill every kid so fast but The Loser’s Club seemed to get a free pass. These kids are literally tracking him down and seem so easy to kill but they are the biggest thorn in his side! I can only imagine him going home every night and just kicking himself for not eating them faster.

While this movie isn’t all about the gory horror scenes, that didn’t ruin it for me. The story, the characters, and the True Fear that was found in it, saved it! This is definitely one to go see and you should expect laughs, sadness, and fear. This movie was worth the wait and really worth the money.

For those of you who stuck around to read this whole review I will give you this, this is just the beginning of this movie. There is so much more to come. Oh, and don’t forget to stick around until after the credits for the tiniest of treats.