A horror movie that doesn't forget about the story or characters

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2020)

There are a lot of problems with modern horror movies today. Unfortunately, this movie does fall into a couple of common tropes with these kinds of movies, but it also does so much more.
Unfortunately, like many modern horror movies, this movie does rely on jumpscares for its scary scenes, for the most part. And, like many other movies, those jumpscares frequently are not very frightening. The scares in this movie are pretty predictable, and outside of one scene, I never found myself too scared or tense. But generally, these problems didn't bother me, because this movie is meant to be more than just scary.
This is not a movie about some evil monster that kills kids. This is a movie about a group of adolescents who are forced to grow up quickly one summer. The kids make this movie. Every child actor in this movie is phenomenal, with Finn Wolfhard as the standout in my opinion. This movie succeeds because the audience really feels for the kids. No doubt, there is at least one member of the Loser's club that you probably relate to from your own childhood, and that's what makes this movie so enjoyable. So many other horror movies forget to make the characters actually relatable and likeable, but this movie puts the focus on these characters and their own struggles and problems, and how those relate to the overall problem facing their town of Derry. As a result, there are many scenes of this movie that involve no horror whatsoever, and I think that turns some people off who were expecting a non-stop horrifying experience. This movie has scary moments, but I would say this is a coming-of-age story disguised as a horror movie. And I loved it.