Decent Amount of Nightmare Fuel

Rating: 6/10 (13 September 2017)

As a non-reader of the book and a non-viewer of the previous theatrical version of IT, I went into this movie not really knowing what to expect. And yet, it somehow was exactly what I expected.
The positives of IT- For a child of the 80's, this film is filled to the brim with nostalgia. The settings were perfect for the time period. Movie signs, posters in kid's bedrooms, and clothing were all enjoyably accurate. The bright spot of the show are the childhood bonds developed smartly on screen between this rag tag group of "losers". The characters are real, have depth, and it was easy to feel an emotional connection. The file does a good job of flipping between sentimental coming-of-age flick to scare your pants off horror in the blink of an eye. The movie had plenty of laughs and fulfilled one of my major requirements for being able to enjoy a horror- I knew when it was time to be scared and knew when it was time to not. Nothing's more stressful to me than seeing a horror movie that is non-stop anxiety about a jump-out moment. IT is very easy to enjoy during the "happy" times, and almost always lets you know when it's time to hunker down in your seat for some nightmare fuel. Visually beautiful, well directed and shot, and of course plenty of white knuckle scary clown scenes. Sophia Lillis was an unknown to me and her performance stole the show.
The negatives of IT- IT falls into the same trap as most horror movies of trying to resolve a scatterbrained plot line whilst scaring the crap out of its audience. I felt like if I had read the book I'd have been greatly disappointed in the effort to explain the history of why what was happening was happening. Sure the kids discover some things along the way, but at no point whatsoever was the subject of WHY this was happening ever breached. In typical horror fashion, main characters make decisions that no rational human being would ever make, and every adult or figure of authority is either oblivious or absent. The humor was good for a while, but Finn Wolfhard's character (Richie) was basically there only for comic relief and was a bit overdone.
Overall I had a good time watching IT. The entire theater was engaged and made it a fun experience. 6/10