Stephen King’s It: A Terrifying, Heartwarming Haunted House Ride

IT is based on the infamous novel by Stephen King of the same name and tells the story of a group of kids called the losers club. And they band together in their hometown of Derry, Maine to fight a group of bullies and a demonic entity that calls itself Penny Wise the Dancing Clown.

I love pretty much everything about this movie. IT is thrilling, terrifying, and pure horror-eye-candy. And yes, it's even romantic and extremely funny. It’s a haunted house experience in all of the best ways. It's the closest thing to genuine, old-school horror that we have had in a long time. And it’s just a fantastic movie overall.

People are calling IT one of the best Stephen King book adaptations in recent memory, and I can definitely agree with that. What impressed me most about this movie is that it’s different from other horror movies. It has an endearing and original quality to it and captures the heart and soul of King’s original novel. It’s as much about following a group of complex and dynamic kids as they grow up and conquer their fears as it is about a terrifying clown hunting them down. At the heart of the movie is a powerful and moving message about growing up, standing up for yourself, and conquering your fears. It’s a message that everyone can relate to and it’s expressed very well through the narrative and our characters.

Director, Andy Muschietti masterfully incorporates this central message into the film while at the same time delivering a terrifying thrill ride from beginning to end that never lets up. A lot of scenes and scares are going to have people talking about them long after they see this movie and for good reason. I wouldn't be surprised if these scenes end up being iconic in film for years to come like so many other horror movies before it, including the 1990 mini series. If I had to chose a few of my favorite scares, they would definitely have to be the projector scene, and the house on Neibolt Street. That scene officially solidified my love for this movie. And it's one of my favorite scary scenes in a horror movie.

It’s not easy to have a movie (let alone a horror movie) with this many main characters and to not only give them all enough screen-time to grow and develop throughout the course of the story, but to make us, the audience, care about them. But that is exactly what this script and director Andy Muschietti accomplish.

I felt like I was watching a real group of friends thrown into this horrible situation. From the very start of the movie, I was emotionally invested and attached to each of these characters when they were introduced. The actors all brought so much life to the characters they played and had such fantastic and sincere chemistry with each other on-screen. It felt like the actors are all best friends in real life. And that made their group dynamic in the movie even more magnetic and natural.

I said this movie was funny and much of that comes from the rich, organic, and quick bantering between the characters, even during some of the most intense and life-threatening moments. Some of the things these kids say to each other and the bantering between them had me and the rest of the audience laughing out loud. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time and this is a horror movie!

There is also a complicated love-triangle between Beverly and two other characters that adds yet another level to the story and weaves it’s way into certain character arcs. These elements of humor and romance never felt jarring or forced. They felt natural, organic, and true to the characters and the story. Part of what makes them feel so natural is the way Andy Muschietti masterfully blends all these elements together with the terrifying and thrilling story on the surface.

And this brings me to that freaky looking clown himself, Penny Wise. This version of Penny Wise and the actor who played him, Bill Skarsgard, had some pretty big clown shoes to fill in living up to Tim Curry’s iconic portrayal in the mini series. But that’s exactly what they do. Skarsgard as Penny Wise is hands-down amazing. He brings an entirely new, refreshing, and exciting take on the character, while delivering an all-around iconic performance of his own. I’ll go so far as saying that Skarsgard’s version of Penny Wise is one of the best new modern villains in cinema. As a character, Penny Wise is terrifying, deeply unsettling, and menacing. The way Penny Wise moves and presents himself is creepy. His voice is sometimes charming and yet, extremely off-putting. And there are so many more layers to his character underneath the surface. We know what motivates him, what his limits are, and even what he’s afraid of. He’s also incredibly eccentric (like most clowns are).

What Skarsgard manages to bring to the character of Penny Wise is spectacular. He made Penny Wise feel lived in, real, and complex. He added little mannerisms to his performance like drool running from his mouth, eyes that would wander in different directions, and sometimes losing his train of thought when he was talking to a kid. These mannerisms made Penny Wise even more disturbing and unsettling and they made total sense. They spoke volumes about his character and subtly hinted at what Penny Wise might really be hiding underneath his aged and battered clown persona. It freaks me out the more I think about it. At the same time, I'm ecstatic because Penny Wise is just so creepy and awesome. And I was totally blown away by Skarsgard’s performance.

IT has depth, underlying mature themes, a great coming of age message, unforgettable scares and memorable dialogue, one of the best casts of kids we've ever had, and a new iconic portrayal of Penny Wise. This movie has the makings of a new horror classic written all over it. And it deserves every bit of hype and praise that its getting.

If you can't tell by now, I love this movie. The more I think about it, the more certain I am that, for me personally, its one of my new favorite movies. By the time it comes out on DVD, hopefully it’ll be the end of October and close to Halloween because this is the perfect movie to watch with a bunch of friends in the fall, on Halloween. It also Warrants multiple viewings to fully catch everything that you may have missed the first time around. There is always so much going on in the background and so many hidden easter eggs in every scene. This movie really has it all.

Hopefully I won't have to wait twenty-seven more years for Chapter Two. I can't wait to see what they do in the next movie.

#StephenKing #StephenKingsIt #It #MovieReview