It (2017)- The goonies meets nightmare on elm street

Rating: 9/10 (12 September 2017)

When "IT" was announced early this year, i was sceptical. Mostly because of the look of pennywise, it looked a bit too off. Even though Tim Curry's outfit was a bit goofy, the performance of Curry helped the goofy outfit become creepy. 2017s Pennywise looked like something edgy prick would make on tumblr. Even when stephen king commented on the movie saying "people have nothing to be afraid of" (meaning the movie isn't bad) it made me nervous because the man has praised such films as death race 2000 and 2012. However, after watching the film today, i was rather impressed. Plot- In the small town of Derry, Maine, children go messing 6 times the normal average, mainly because of a killer clown called pennywise that goes around kidnapping children and eating them. So in the summer of 1989, 7 kids face their fears and try to stop the clown before any more kids get taken. What i liked For one thing, this is an incredibly tense, creepy and downright disturbing film. The film is clear from the intro that is means business. For example, in the 1990s mini series, when georgie is killed, it simply fades to a funeral scene, however in the 2017 version, poor georgies arm gets eaten off by pennywise, he then riggles around in pain before being dragged into the sewer to be eaten. Did i mention that this kid is only 7. After that scene, i knew this was gonna be a really good horror movie. I also love the way in which the characters emotions help develop their personalities. For example, Billie, who was the older brother of georgie, is, throughout the film, constantly under the belief his brother isn't dead. The way the character is holding on to a small sliver of hope that he is still alive really makes you empathise with the character. There is one scene near the end which almost had me in tears because of how touching it was. I also loved the chemistry between the losers club. Usually when a group of kids are the main protagonists in horror movies or even movies in general, they are usually written by a group of 50 year olds who guess what kids talk and acted like. However, this movie nails what kids that age talk about. From mum jokes to swearing to childish banter to the ways in which they spend their free time, it does not feel forced. The dialogue didn't seem out of place. Another aspect i liked were the child actors. Usually child actors are garbage but i really liked the child actors. The last thing i have to talk about is Pennywise. Good god what an amazing performance. Pennywise is played by Swedish actor Bill skarsgård, and boy does he knock it out of the ball park. When the previous character of pennywise was played so perfectly by Tim Curry you have some serious shoes to fill . But Skarsgård nails this role. I haven't seen such an unsettling, eerie, creepy and downright scary villain in a movie since Heath ledger did the Joker in the Dark knight. Every time pennywise is on screen you just want him to go away because of how scary he is. Things i don't like. However, the film isn't perfect. For example, even though i loved the child actors, one of the child actors felt a bit bland and not interesting. I kind of got annoyed by the character, all he ever did (at least to my experience) was stand around, cry or moan. Another thing i didn't like, and this stems back to the original book ,is the decision georgie makes when he reaches down the sewer to get the paper boat back. Picture this, if you were a 7 year old and all of a sudden a clown appeared in the sewer right in front of you, my guess is you wouldn't want to spend much time with him. So i don't understand why georgie went to get the paper boat off of him. My final criticism is that there is a weird thing between the chubby kid and the girl. Throughout the movie, the chubby kid has a crush on this girl, but she ends up kissing Billie instead, even when the chubby kid saves the girl from being paralyzed, they just re enact a poem the both like. I thought this relationship was a bit unnecessary. Overall if you want a genuinely scary, genuinely unnerving film that will make you scared of clowns IT is the film for you