Release date: September 8, 2017
Genres: Horror, Drama
Director: Andy Muschietti
Writers: Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, Gary Dauberman
Starring: Jaedan Lieberer, Sophia Lillis,
Bill Skarsgard
It, adapted from the Stephen King book of the same name, is a movie about a group of kids in Derry, Maine who call themselves The Losers Club. Each of them has some kind of trauma or tragedy in their lives and they all seem to be tormented by a combination of the terrible adults in Derry and a terrifying entity that takes the shape of whatever they fear the most (or at least, that’s what it’s supposed to do - it typically just appears as a clown with some nasty teeth). So The Losers Club must band together to figure out what it is that haunts them and then how to defeat it.
This movie sold me on its story and characters, not on its scares. Apart from a few scenes towards the beginning of the film, the scares in this film are all jumpy and fun, but not actually scary. I’m someone who is much more affected by psychological and atmospheric horror than supernatural jump scares, which are more common in this film and modern horror films in general. I found the scary elements to be a lot of fun in a silly kind of way. I mean, this film is about a killer clown, so there is a lot of silliness already inherent in the premise and I had an absolute blast watching the scary elements of the film. Unless you’re particularly afraid of clowns or really susceptible to jump scares, I don’t think this movie will be that scary for you.
This is Stand By Me but with a killer clown. It has all of the elements of a coming-of-age story with lots of family drama and bullying that make all of these kids really sympathetic and well-rounded. There are seven kids in The Losers Club by the end of this film, but I feel like I can describe something about each of them, which is pretty impressive. At times the drama at home is much scarier and more real than the drama from this killer clown, and the child actors really sell it. I don’t think there was a single weak performance in the film, which is amazing given the youth of the cast. If I had to pick a standout, it would probably be Sophia Lillis whose character of Beverly is the only girl in The Losers Club. This makes her character particularly difficult to play, as she attracts a lot of attention from the other members of The Losers Club and thus has the constant attention of both the audience and the other characters in the movie. Despite all this, she handles her character very well.
The movie is pretty well-made, with some creative camera movements (including dutch angles that actually worked), solid editing that never confused me, and a good score. When the script focuses on the characters, it is at its strongest and weakest. The character drama at home and with the various bullies in the film is very effective. But the writing does get a little clichéd towards the third act with characters splitting up, a damsel in distress, and other horror film tropes.
Still, the movie impressed me. It had a lot to juggle with its humor, horror, and drama and had tons of characters to keep track of, all of which it did remarkably well. While It wasn’t as scary as I was expecting, It was a lot of fun.