Down With The Clown

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2019)

With Chapter Two out this week, I rewatched the first film over the weekend in preparation. Happily, I found that, though not quite as much as the first time, I still enjoyed the film - though admittedly it's not actually that scary.
Haunted by the disappearance of his brother several months early, Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) and his friends begin their summer holiday. They, and the rest of the town's children are being tormented by horrific visions that are linked to a clown, Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard). Their investigation leads to the understanding that Pennywise has inhabited their town for decades, appearing every 27 years to hunt and then disappearing back to the sewers.
It should first be said again, as a horror film "It" isn't particularly scary. It has a few creepy moments, most of which a either background characters or moments. There's one fantastic scene involving a projector - but for the most part the film scary elements are Pennywise's manifestations. Those are created in CGI and they're fine, just not that frightening. However, if you recalibrate slightly, "It" is a wonderfully entertaining (and surprisingly funny) "Stranger Things-esque" adventure about a group of children that fight back against an evil that is after them. Finn Wolfhard's presence in the film helps to add to that "Stranger Things" feeling and his wisecracking character Ritchie is one of the highlights amongst the gang. It's like "The Goonies" but with more horror elements.
The cast are great, Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise is already an iconic horror character - without detracting from the Tim Curry version. My only concern is that this is the easy half of the overall story, and the second chapter has some much less cinematic elements to try and find a way to incorporate. I guess I'll find out tomorrow how successful they were.