IT is What Stephen King Deserved

Rating: 8/10 (11 October 2017)

IT is a 2017 horror movie from director Andy Muschietti and it was actually pretty great in my opinion.
Everyone involved in this film really deserves props for even getting an adaptation of Steven King's famously lengthy 1986 novel of the same name, let alone producing something as well made as this movie turned out to be. The film makers wisely chose to forgo the segments of the book that happen during the main cast's adulthood to focus on their childhoods. This could have turned out poorly as child actors have the stigma of being bad actors and having the entire main cast be comprised of teens under 18 years old could have backfired. Thankfully the entire cast of kids gave a very well acted performance with the only real exception being the actor who played Ben who's performance was simply "good enough".
Of course I would be remiss if I failed to mention Bill Skarsgård who really brought new life the role that manages to both stay true to the character while making it distinct from Tim Curry's famous 1990 performance of the character. I feel like he made a great monster for the movie and really has some great scenes where I was genuinely impressed by what he did with his performance.
The director is also someone that I want to briefly touch on. Andy Muschietti really showed what he could do given a proper budget and it really surprised me. He was able to get a lot of really good performances out of his cast as well as making the mid 1980's town feel real and lived in. I've got to say though there were a few moments that really stuck out where I questioned his intentions, the most memorable would be the boys to men poster moment when he played a clip of the groups music that was jarring. Overall though I am more than impressed by Muschietti and I can't wait to see what he does with the sequel and with his adaptation of Shadow of the Colossus.
Overall this is a flawed movie, but so are the best horror movies. There is no doubt though that the movie is scary, thrilling, and all around a really good watch. This definitely gets added to the positive list of Steven King movies and manages to avoid joining the loser pile.