Hooray! A good King adaptation.

Rating: 8/10 (8 May 2018)

In 1989 something evil in the town of Derry, adopting the appearance of a clown, is killing children. 7 misfit friends are the only ones who realise what's going on, and unwillingly take on this malevolent entity.
Previously filmed as a 2-part miniseries for TV, this film adapts half of Stephen King's eponymous novel. The other half, which has the same characters facing up to the reappearance of It (aka Pennywise the Dancing Clown) 27 years later, has yet to be filmed: green lighting the follow-up depends on the success of this movie, and it looks hopeful. Box office seems promising, and deservedly so.
If you've never seen a horror film then you'll find this scary. If you have, then I doubt if you'll be scared, but you will certainly find the mood of hidden malevolence effective, especially given the youth of the protagonists. The atmosphere of this film is very well delivered, and captures the feel of the novel extremely well. And it does fairly well at avoiding the temptation to go all Made You Jump noises.
The cast of kids are all pretty good although I felt that Finn Wolfhard, playing motormouth Richie Tozier, not only gabbled (completely in line with the character), but did so in a way which made it very difficult to understand what he was saying - I couldn't follow him at all.
Sophia Lillis as Bev, 14 years old during filming, is right in the middle of transitioning from child to adult, a fact which is used strongly in her character's arc. You can see the sexuality which is waiting to settle in to a young person who is already striking: she will be a beautiful young woman, and it won't be long until she gets there. Also, she can act.
And I suppose I should mention Bill Skarsgard (Stellan's son) as Pennywise. I always thought Tim Curry was deeply scary 27 years ago (there's that number again!): well, Skarsgard is scarier.
This is a good film, one of the best adaptations of King's work, and it makes up for the desperately disappointing Dark Tower movie of several weeks ago.