It 1 Review

Rating: 8/10 (12 February 2018)

It is a film directed by Andy Muschetti. I remember watching the trailer when it launched and I was scared to hell. So my expectations for this film were quite huge. After watching this film, I can say that this film is horror at its best.
Plot; Bill and his friends decide to spend the summer investigating about Bill's missing brother, Georgie.
Story and direction: From the first scene itself, the mood gets set. It signified that the ride is not for the faint hearted. Never for a moment I felt that there were jump scares. And when there was a scare I literally had goosebumps, The story also was quite good. I liked the approach to separate the film into 2 chapters: One of the children and other for the adult part. This allowed for the story to be streamlined and focused. The characters, especially the Losers' club, were interesting. Each one of them had a kind of backstory that could be related to. The way this film handles and highlights issues related to children was impressive. The production design for the town of Derry was spot on. The makeup and VFX was amazing. It was as if I was looking at a real creepy clown. But the film had some issues for me. I felt the supposed love angle between Ben-Beverly-Bill was forced into the screenplay. Also the kid that starts cursing every second was very irritatting. I know that this film is R rated, but seriously to have a kid of 12-13 cursing is little bit overboard.
Performances: Bill Skarsgard nailed it as Pennywise. He looked crepy each and every second he appeared on screen. He emoted the character of the psychotic clown effortlesly. Jaeden Lieberher was great as Bill. Finn Wolfhard had already impressed me in Stranger Things, he continues to impress here too.Jeremy Taylor was quite cute looking to the eyes but he too delivered an earnest performance. Spohia Lillis was also impressive as Beverly. Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs and Jack Dylan Grazer all delivered awesome performanances.
Favorite Scene: It woule be the one where the kids go to Bill's home to see the town plan of Derry on a projector. But then Eddie doesn't feel well and tells Bill to stop his presentation. And suddenly just out of nowhere the projector changes slides on its own and then Pennywise appears in the slieds and then leaps out of the slides. The mood, tension and scare factor was what made this scene stand out from the rest for me.
Verdict: For those who think you will see a Stranger Things (which I love btw) on film, you are absolutely wrong. This film is way different both thematically and tonally from the famous series. I loved It and can't wait for the second part.
I am going with a 8.5/10.