It (Andy Muschietti)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb / Wiki

[Scar]

It took a few liberties from the book, but still decent. I'll give it a yay when I log on from my computer.


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[Dead & Messed Up]

Good movie.

Not a great one.

But good.

Maybe even damn good.

Amazing child performances. You will fall in love with some of these kids. Not just the creative swearing (which is wonderful), but the plausibility of their familiarity with each other, the way they overlap; running jokes between them that feel well-worn (one boy's mother is a constant target). [I imagine most will fall in love with Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak - Richie's motormouth swearing is perfectly matched to Finn Wolfhard.]

Never as dreadful and truly frightening as you'd hope, playing instead with the spook-a-blast creativity of "Drag Me to Hell" or (at its best) "Poltergeist." There's a blood flood here worthy of "Evil Dead II" and a throwdown in a haunted house that provides the film's peak; Muschetti doesn't like to simmer the violence when he can crank the stovetop to boil in an instant.

It takes some time for the flick's story to ramp up, as the kids initially seem weirdly disinterested in discussing their experiences with Pennywise (the film has trouble establishing that the experiences even linger with them). That hurts the film, as you could re-arrange the first five or six Big Scares without changing the drama surrounding them. (One scare sequence resolves with an uptempo montage of bathroom cleanup.)

And there are too many times where Pennywise leans on familiar CG twitchery from lesser horror films. I got used to that style and even came to like a few of his more outlandish iterations, but the decision yanks the film back down to Earth and forces you to remember that Muschetti's "Mama" was best when it withheld its monster and, I dunno, tolerable (?) when Mama showed up.

But the film ultimately works on that backbone of empathetic child performances, the (slow) accretion of their shared experiences with It, and the hints that Derry's rotten to its core. I wish they explored that element more, since King wrote Derry as the Hill House of small towns, locked in mutual corrosion with Pennywise, but the hints of that decay do lurk at the edges, most notably when a pharmacist plays friendly with the underage Bev. Eww.

If you're expecting something with the calm follow-through of Reiner's "Misery" or the atmospheric discomforts of "The Shining," you won't be thrilled by "IT," and on that level you can not-unfairly call the flick a missed opportunity. But what you've got is a solid spookhouse film with an endearing emotional core.

[Morris Schæffer]

Looks on course to open big with 65-80 million.

[Dukefrukem]

Looks on course to open big with 65-80 million.

Now they're saying $100+

[Dead & Messed Up]

But seriously, Richie's response to learning about early Derry beaver trappers brought the house down.

[Scar]

But seriously, Richie's response to learning about early Derry beaver trappers brought the house down.

Very true!


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[Mal]

hmmph. If this had been made by a more seasoned, dramatic director... I think this would have had the results I wanted. Instead the directing from Muschietti at times feels too modern, expected, even disappointing.

But the child actors and their chemistry is really lovely and fantastic- and I'm very much considering seeing this again in the theater because the result of the picture is so satisfying thanks to the scripting.

[Ezee E]

There's potential here, but the first half never really establishes the true fears of each kid. It speeds through it.

As mentioned above, the scares for half the movie rely on the CGI- fast forward/headshaking/screaming from Pennywise, which is more funny after a while then scary. It really never ramps up until it finally gets inside the house, with tactics of separating everyone. It's pretty fun for a bit, but some of the secondary antagonists rub off as over the top-ridiculous.

Eh..........

[Pop Trash]

As mentioned above, the scares for half the movie rely on the CGI- fast forward/headshaking/screaming from Pennywise, which is more funny after a while then scary.

What started this trope? I feel like I've seen it in many 21st Century horror films (or at least their trailers since I rarely watch them) but I watched a lot of 80s/90s horror back in the day and don't remember that being a thing at all back then. It's like the horror movie version of the speed ramp.

[Morris Schæffer]

What started this trope? I feel like I've seen it in many 21st Century horror films (or at least their trailers since I rarely watch them) but I watched a lot of 80s/90s horror back in the day and don't remember that being a thing at all back then. It's like the horror movie version of the speed ramp.

I remember the saw movies had some scenes which were played at faster than normal speed, but nothing like the puppet on a bicycle igniting its turbo and charging at its target.

But yeah speaking of trailers, horror trailers seem to frequently end with one surprise jolt before it's fade to black, or fade to credits.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Also, $117 million opening. Bully for the WB marketers.

[Ivan Drago]

Also, $117 million opening. Bully for the WB marketers.

....C'MON, KINGSMAN....

[Dead & Messed Up]

What started this trope? I feel like I've seen it in many 21st Century horror films (or at least their trailers since I rarely watch them) but I watched a lot of 80s/90s horror back in the day and don't remember that being a thing at all back then. It's like the horror movie version of the speed ramp.

You can trace it back to Jacob's Ladder, but I'm not sure where it crossed into mainstream technique.

[D_Davis]

Is the film only the kid half of the book?

[Skitch]

Is the film only the kid half of the book?

Yes.

[Ezee E]

Yes.

Ends with...
[

Show Spoiler

It: Chapter 1

]

[Ezee E]

People were freaking out in the clown room scene in my full theater, but outside of that, not too many screams.

[Morris Schæffer]

Good movie. Opts a little too much for brazen "BOO!" scenes and all too often it has characters, kids who should be scared, running right into terror although it's somewhat justified here.

[Dukefrukem]

Is the film only the kid half of the book?

Sequel planned with the adult side!

[D_Davis]

Sequel planned with the adult side!

Excellent!

[Ivan Drago]

This felt more like an adventure with elements of horror rather than a straight-up horror film to me. the only problems I had with it occurred when humorous dialogue killed the suspense of terrifying scenes in the first half. Other than that, the characters are well-written and acted, Bill Skarsgard was great as Pennywise, and there's a thematic depth to it that's absent from most contemporary horror films. Overall, I enjoyed it.

[Morris Schæffer]

That's colossal!

[Pop Trash]

Casting and cinematography are MVP.

[Wryan]

Surprisingly tame in places, but overall it's good fun. A little disappointed that the speech from the trailer about adults failing the children under their charge was absent, but perhaps it would have been too on the nose here. When Skarsgard is allowed to be physically present, he's wonderful; there should have been more of that. The kids were a total success, from the coarse language to the close bond to the way the boys stare agape at Beverly to how quietly strong Ben is. And Sophia Lillis is a hell of a find. Suffers some obvious thinness from compressing down even half of such a giant story, but I think it works fairly well.