It

Rating: 9/10 (13 September 2017)

First of all, I am yet to read the book or see the original from 1990 with Tim Curry as Pennywise (I hope to put this right on both fronts asap) so when seeing the 2017 version, I had nothing to compare it to and no idea of how the story should be going.
I went to see 'It' on opening night at the cinema and it was one of the best cinema experiences I've ever had. For a start it was actually more than half full and there was a certain buzz in the air, a really great atmosphere.
I will say that I personally expected it to be scarier but I suppose if your fears are clowns then this will probably be terrifying, Bill Skarsgård gives a menacing performance as Pennywise. He changes his voice at times so one moment he can be hilarious and seem almost innocent and then the next moment he will have a real menacing look to strike fear in to the audience. The costume/make up that went in to this is spot on.
Although not as scary as expected I can still see why some would find this terrifying, although some moments did make me jumpy slightly, I found that the film in general was just creepy due to the excellent atmosphere created. The film got the mix of horror and comedy spot on, there were a lot of people in the audience laughing out loud and then gasping the next minute.
There have been a lot of comparisons to Stranger Things as well as classic films like Stand By Me & The Goonies. It is a horror film but it gave me equal enjoyment watching it for the comedy/coming of age aspect. I thought there might have been some sort of back story about Pennywise as well as more from the kid's parents/locals of the town etc but I think maybe that might be taking the film a bit too seriously. Unless this is explored in more detail in the sequel, like I said I'm yet to read the book so I am a bit unsure.
I think the casting was spot on, I can't praise Bill Skarsgård's performance highly enough (hopefully he will win some awards) and then the chemistry between the Loser's Club is terrific. All of them gave great performances and provided plenty of laughs but I have to praise Finn Wolfhard (Richie) who had some excellent one liners.
Overall an excellent film, probably my favourite film of 2017 (so far anyway) and I can't wait for the sequel.