In 1990 Tim Curry’s performance as Pennywise The Dancing Clown made a generation of people afraid of clowns.
Now 27 years later a new cycle has begun with Andy Muschietti’s latest adaptation of Stephen King’s terrifying novel IT.
But does this movie live up to the hype it presented, with the most viewed movie trailer on YouTube in the first 24 hours, and even King himself praising it?
Yes, yes it does.
For you see, IT is not only one of the greatest horror movies of the year but the greatest coming of age story since Stand By Me. (Ironically another one of King’s works)
The film revolves around a group of kids known as the Losers Club, who realize children are being taken and killed by a demonic entity that takes the form of whatever you fear the most, Its favorite form being that of the sadistic Pennywise played terrifyingly by Bill Skarsgard.
Skarsgard’s performance as Pennywise is both unnerving and frightening, easily exceeding Curry’s previous performance.
But the real star of IT is not the crazed, killer clown but the children of The Losers Club as you will have become attached to each and every one of them by the end of the film.
We spend the entirety of IT watching these kids grow and gradually lose their innocence due to the horrors they experience.
The standout actors are without a doubt Sophia Lillis as Beverly and Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie.
These two really knock it out of the park with their performances, especially Lillis who had a much darker storyline than I expected.
Speaking of dark, if you are a person easily offended by violence against children then this film is definitely not for you.
This film is constantly filled with dark and disturbing imagery, made even more disturbing by the fact that these things are happening to children.
However, while this film is very scary it relies a bit on CGI, which is very noticeable and really takes you out of the moment.
The infamous storm drain scene where Georgie meets Pennywise was almost ruined for me when a noticeable case of CGI took me out of the moment.
But other than that there really isn’t anything else wrong with the movie.
The only other problems I had with the film was from the perspective of a fan of King’s original novel as some storylines were switched around or abandoned, which I didn’t like.
However, if I look at this solely from a filmmaking perspective then this is an almost perfect movie that will make this generation terrified of clowns.
Go float to the theatres and check it out.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 