It (2017) Review

The Goonies on Elm Street

Released : September 8th 2017

Certificate : 15

Director : Andrés Muschietti

Cast : Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs,  Bill Skarsgård

Plot : Set in the 1980’s in a little town called Derry, a group of six children, who refer to themselves as ‘The Losers’ Club’, are terrorised by a shape-shifting monster called Pennywise ‘The Dancing Clown.

In keeping with the legend of It, twenty seven years on from the original mini-series, we have the return of The Losers’ Club and Pennywise. Directed by Andrés Muschietti whose only previous experience is the moderate successful horror flick Mama, the story of Stephen Kings It has been redone and updated. This film tells the story of what is commonly referred to as Chapter 1, while the book doesn’t make such a clean distinction, in which the characters face Pennywise for the first time as children. An actor yet to become as well-known as his brothers and father, Bill Skarsgård, plays the evil clown.

As scary as the clown might seem on paper and how horrific the story sounds, this film is far more a horror-adventure rather than a straight up horror. The quest that the children go on to defeat the demon is much more alike The Goonies and Super 8 than any horror flick. The film bleeds the nostalgia for the other 80’s set children adventures, much in the same vain as Stranger Things. This atmosphere and the coming of age aspect of the story brings real warmth to a film that holds no punches when it comes to the darker monster elements. The opening scene of the film is of course the iconic scene from the book and miniseries of Pennywise meeting Georgie while he races his paper boat. From this opening scene it is instantly clear that this is a more brutal and faithful adaption of the source material than the miniseries. Audience that were hoping for clever, suspenseful and inventive scares may be disappointed by the blunt and unrelenting use of ghost and ghouls in this film.

The abundance of monsters is in-keeping with Andrés Muschietti previous film Mama. The horror sequences become so frequent that at times they become slightly trivial, but after a point the quality of the scares and the thrilling pace they add to the film wins you over. With a run time of two hours and fifteen minute’s there is barely a moment to breathe, giving the film a brilliantly relentless pace. Certain set horror pieces, such as a confrontation with Pennywise halfway through, is visually brilliant and really is the stuff of high quality creature-feature work. The CGI that is worked into and around Pennywise is handled very well to create a clown that looks just real enough. But what shines through is how Muschietti deals with the other half of the tale, surrounding the kid’s drama and their development which is the real success of the film.

The cast are across the board good with the standouts of The Losers’ Club being lead Jaeden Lieberher, who is fast becoming a child star, and Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard who really elevates the film with his comedic talent. As for Bill Skarsgård work, it is as good if not better than Tim Curry’s work with the character. While Curry’s performance was more calm and collected, ironically, Skarsgard makes the character noticeable more manic. The vocals in particular give the character a more unhinged and insane vibe, making him fair less comical and ironic than Curry’s rendition. This is matched well with the CGI decision to have his eyes just off kilter from one another.

It is a million miles better than the miniseries and falls among the better Stephen King adaptions. While the horror aspects are more thrilling and exciting than they are actually unsettling, there are plenty of moments to gasp at. What makes It one of the stronger Stephen King adaptions is that it’s as much about the characters as it is about the monsters. Effective in many areas, from laughter, excitement and character development, this is the better side of mainstream horror films.

Verdict : Both The Losers’ Club and Pennywise are brilliantly brought to life in this fast paced horror adventure which is big on characters and scares.

Verdict : 4/5

Quote : “If you’ll come with me, you’ll float too.”