Yet another nightmare for coulrophobics

Rating: 7/10 (12 June 2018)

A group of misfit children deal with evil in the form of a clown. This is the second version of Steven King's eponymous novel, and while the CGI effects allow for horrors that are magnitudes better than those in the 1990 made-for-TV version, I didn't find the new film to be that much better than the miniseries. The kids are fine but, between Spielberg films, other King films, and shows like "Stranger Things", I felt like I'd seen it all before. I also found the film slow and meandering as the various kids, and their problems, were introduced. Only the first part of the novel is covered and there really didn't seem to be enough material to fill 135 min. There were some very effective scenes (the opening death of Georgie and the dancing clown comes to mind), but primary criticism is central to the story: Bill Skarsgård's interpretation of Pennywise the Dancing Clown was too creepy when in 'friendly' mode (compared to Tim Curry's version), which to me diluted the impact of the transition from 'good' clown to 'killer' clown. Anyone familiar with the story will know that in the second half the kids return as adults to Derry to challenge the demonic harlequin. It will be interesting to see if the follow-up film follows a simple horror trajectory (as did the first version) or tries to stay true to the new-agey weirdness of the book.