It's full of holes and gimmicks

Rating: 1/10 (6 July 2018)

Why this film received any critical acclaim is the only scary thing about IT. And why it has any fan base at all is truly frightening. Aside from a handful of capable child actors, the script makes no logical sense and the CGI frights are so basic and ordinary that BABADOOK looks like an artful masterpiece compared to the dull incomprehensible fluff of IT. To start with, having the clown amputate a 7-year-olds arm is a sick marketing ploy to show how "edgy" the director is... Yet by the movie's ramshackle conclusion any intelligent viewer wonders how every single member of the nerd club from junior high makes it through with barely a scratch, cleverly defeating the clown by "not being afraid" despite the actors jumping and trembling at every cliched movement the clown makes. Aside from some minor scratches, the only injury (a broken arm) is the result of falling through the rotten floorboards of the phoniest haunted house ever put on film -- each terrified teen miraculously escapes the slow-moving clown even before they figure out that It's power is wholly based upon their own fear. Except... Wait... Other people are also "floating" in suspended captivity without being eaten (as the 7-year-old was gorily consumed) because they also must have figured out the secret of being fearless in order to be floating. Add on a few one-dimensional single parents from Hell --that their offspring can murder them without consequence -- and a few missing older folks never explained or explored -- and it's easy to wonder who the villain is. And let's just ignore the bloody bathroom scene that only the teens can see and, miraculously, can clean with soap and water... Even the fabric shower curtain! Why the girl not murdered in that scene despite her quaking fear is beside the point. With an entire town's population connected by a sewer system it's quite a puzzle why the clown keeps chasing after the nerdy kid club instead of eating or "floating" anyone else for over two hours of cinema crapola. What's even weirder is that HBO labels this kid's movie with a R-rated "rape" rating just to make it seem all that much more graphic. Yet there is no rape, only hints at incest or physical abuse. The scene with all the middle-schoolers in their underwear at the quarry is an attempt to show their vulnerability? Or maybe just soft core kiddy porn of them splashing and surreptitiously masturbating while a turtle lurks in the watery depths? This, the most intriguing scene of the film, has no plot point whatsoever. Strangely, though, to sit through the entire film is a bit masochistic in that it's got just enough suspense (due to inarticulate reasons for the clown being active) to keep a viewer annoyed yet hoping for entertainment to somehow happen. It doesn't.