Don't rate a helicopter as if you were hoping for a bicycle

Rating: 10/10 (7 October 2017)

I am a Stephen King fan. Not everything by him equally, but I really like most of his stories - the creepy ones, the magically-real ones, and especially all of those even remotely related to the world and characters he created for The Dark Tower novels. This adaptation of "It" is, in my opinion, the best one that could be done while keeping as true to the story as possible. I don't mind that they moved the setting into the future, or that they changed a few things to make the story less horrible (Yes, folks. Less horrible. Read the book and you'll see why). I see that some viewers are disappointed by the lack of "scares" in the film. Most people equate being scared by a film with how often they are startled. Jump scares are an easy way to get an audience to react, and to give them a sense that they've enjoyed a film. As with "The Babadook," most viewers miss the point of horror. What frightens us as humans are the deep, primal things that really good authors and filmmakers are able to tap into. If you have children, the thought of them being taken from you is horror. If you are a child, the thought of being abandoned, lost, or betrayed by those you trust is horror. The point of a good monster movie isn't the monster, but the humans - how they react to the monster, what the monster wants from them, how they conquer the monster (if they do). I guess if you go to a "horror" film expecting non-stop gushing and squirting blood or those pop-out moments that make you jump in your seat, you will always be disappointed by films that go a little deeper than those cheap tactics. I'm sorry to see poor ratings based on generic expectations of a genre that has (for the most part) surrendered to mindless formulas.