Stephen King's It - The Movie

Saw this movie opening night, figured I would give the rest of your some time to see it before I reviewed it.

TL;DR - It is absolutely excellent, one of the BEST adaptations of a Stephen King horror novel to the big screen that has ever been made.


I'll try to keep it abstract and not give too many spoilers while still reviewing the movie.

First off, lets address Pennywise the clown. There was a LOT of controversy in casting Bill Skaarsgard as Pennywise based on Tim Curry's previous portrayal. I can say right now, that in my opinion, Bill Skaarsgard beat the pants off of Tim Curry for an accurate portrayal of Pennywise from the book. I know this is a controversial opinion because Tim Curry played such a creepy Pennywise, but hear me out. In the book, Pennywise is an extra-dimenstional monster/shapeshifter who takes on a human form as it tortures and feeds on the humans living in Derry. Bill Skaarsgard absolutely nailed this fact: the monster is not human and is struggling to maintain its human-like persona as it commits its cruelty. It feeds off of their pain and their fear and this is all it knows, it has been without fail capable of doing this repeatedly through its entire life, even if it can't fully pass as human. The Losers are It's (would this be the first time where It's would be correct?) first real challenge and it doesn't know how to handle this. Don't get me wrong, Tim Curry played a delightfully evil psychotic clown but it was clearly a human clown who was evil. The extra depth of the monster struggling to maintain his facade and comprehend his human "food", the novel fear that it feels in confronting the Losers, etc. are all things that Skaarsgard did a great job capturing that Tim Curry's maniacal human clown persona did not.

Second, jump scares, this is a thriller/horror movie and there are going to be jump scares. Save one or two places, 100% of the jump scares feel real and earned. They are not forced, they are not cheap tricks to give you a bit of fright. They feel fundamental to the story and well earned when they happen. You never sit there thinking, well that was lame. There is often a real build up of the horror and terror, letting go to a climax and a temprorary reprieve, often mirroring what the victims feel.

As for the rest of the movie, there were a few parts that felt over the top and cliched, but overall I would say the movie did a great job of holding to the story and fitting in as much as they could. Much of the story that you want to see is there, the rich and detailed physical and psychological battle between the kids and Pennywise is there. Though some important parts, such as Patrick Hockstetter being almost as evil as Pennywise, are dropped; a casualty of the short film format. I will say, the biggest casualty of the shorter format of film is that they just didn't have time to build the backstories to the depth the King does in the book. The movie fundamentally lost the kids simultaneous understanding that as they fight Pennywise that the real world around them is almost as evil and that's an evil they can't vanquish. This loss of innocence and purity that is fundamental to King books and its effect on the group is reduced dramatically. You understood that much of the town is fundamentally evil and/or ignores the evil happening around them. As a result of this, you understood that the Losers were in this alone, but real world evil that happened to them felt more like a series of unconnected events, not a long chain of evil from an evil real world. You lost the level of torment and fear that the Losers felt from the bullies who truly terrorized them, you lost the fear and apprehension that the Losers felt when dealing with many of the adults in their city (which is WHY they didn't go to the adults about what was happening and what they knew). Like I said before, you still got the great story about the battle with Pennywise; this fundamental battle is there in glorious rich detail. A battle taking place in a world they are realizing is evil in its own right. Just you lack the details that truly united and defined them as a group. You lost the outright fear they faced when dealing with a world around them, a world that is no longer an ideal mirage of childhood. You lost the fear of insane bullies and evil predatory adults who use the kids to fulfill their own needs, etc. You lost WHY they stuck together in the long run, what bound them and why they couldn't bring in others. There just wasn't enough time to cover all of this back story in a short movie. That being said, for the time they had, the movie was almost non-stop excellent and true to source. Something which is virtually impossible to do for a Stephen King horror novel. Outside of a few small parts, I can't think of much that I would have changed from the movie and that says a lot.

Well I wasn't planning on seeing it but now I am. Thanks Pedro!

Youngest and I will see IT. And no, I don't want a balloon!

That right there is a review!!


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