Poor horror movie by itself, horrendous as an adaptation

Rating: 3/10 (14 September 2017)

This is a review made by someone who read the book and I can say that it is a huge disappointment even if, if you've read the book, you know right from the start they couldn't have ever made it to match the book in its entirety.
The movie seems to be made by someone who heard the book plot from his friend while binge drinking. The monster behaves by different rules, which make it a lot weaker than it originally was. There is no explanation given to the audience why people were violent and ignorant. The vision-inducing ritual is replaced by research done off-screen. Apart from Georgie (the trigger) and a bully, no other kid is killed on-screen. The Losers' assault on the monster's lair is not fueled by their desire to stop it from feeding again, but by a damsel in distress. To top it all off, the monster's final form is not actually a giant spider, but remains just the clown.
Now, onto the movie's issues taken after forgetting there ever was a book. It's a cheap horror, full to the brim with jump scares. The characters all behave stupidly and go wandering all alone in dark sewers away from the group, even though they know they're hunting a child-eating monster. The monster gets way too much screen time and looks goofy, not scary. This is the type of horror that's so bad, its tropes are some of the most parodied.
"IT" is the only movie where I felt the need to just walk out of the theater midway. It's a poor horror and, on top of that, an embarrassing adaptation. Total cash grab piggybacking on the book's fame, do not recommend.