Solid film, if you excuse the reliance on digital effects for generic horror.

Rating: 6/10 (11 April 2019)

I found IT (2017) to be a film lacking in any real horror, but full already iconic cinematic ideas and images with memorable performances and solid writing. However an over reliance on effects and a disregard for keeping the more mythical elements of the story secret till the third act ended up ruining this otherwise very solid film directed by Andrés Muschietti (who has very few prior credits to his name and did an excellent job leading this $35,000,000 franchise studio feature!).
I find it difficult to talk about IT without talking about pre-title scenes. I was watching it and rolling my eyes due to it's generic setup. Lighting storm, Young boy has to walk down to the basement as creepy music plays. Thinks he sees something in the shadows, just a reflection...The scene outside with the paper boat is now iconic, and Pennywise in the drain is suitably creepy until giant teeth come out and eat the boy's arm. This ruins too much too soon in my opinion, knowing that this creepy clown is a monster and basically a creature from another dimension removed the tension. I'd much rather have a movie full of children confronting creepy scenes and the odd smiling clown rather than knowing that he could just bight your hand off. The more fantastical elements only come into play as the children go into the sewer and discover it for themselves, I would have must rather discovered the multi-dimensional fear feeding monster elements with them, rather than introducing it in the opening.
Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise was captivating and I just had a smile over my face every time he jumped out of the shadows. His performance shows so much effort, sheer talent and charisma and along side the excellent practical prosthetic face mask by Alec Gilles and Tom Woodruff Jr. with the beautifully creepy costume created by Janie Bryant makes for one of my personal favourite cinematic characters. However, 90% of the time when he did it his performance was covered by some special effects magic that totally ruined what he brought to the part. Drawing over Skargard's performance in this way is like putting a plastic bag over Heath Ledger in The Dark Night or an Snapchat dog filter over Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. I wish whoever behind this movie pushed forwards the VFX usage (be it director, studio or screenwriters) would have trusted Skargard's ability to creep an audience without.
In regards to the actual horror, it felt very generic and bland due to, again, many effects shots that just did not work for tension. Sophia Lillis' performance along side Stephen Bogaert playing her sexually abusive father was without a doubt the stand out chills in the film feeling much more real and grounded with both delivering incredible performances. There were only three other times I felt scared in the movie. Pennywise in the drain, burning hands reaching out from behind the door and one VERY SIMPLE jump cut from a headless man into Pennywise. I guess that just shows how effective a good edit and performance is over spectacle.
Other than those complaints (keeping in mind, the actual horror takes up a suprisingly small part of the film) the creepy scenes the children encounter are very imaginative, the performances are fantastic from all involved, excellent period costume and set design with high school bullies and drama that kept me hooked between the digital horror attempts. Beautifully lit and shot by Chung-hoon Chung with very well paced and motivated editing by Jason Ballantine. The child actors were fantastic across the board and their performances, reminiscent in dynamic of 80s classics like the goonies, is the main reason to see this movie other than Pennywise's portrayal.
Overall, I suggest seeing this movie if you like crazy concepts and are looking for a good drama with some fantasy elements and a captivating villain. But don't expect want to leave the light on after watching.