IT floats.....okay...done that dumb joke, lets review!!

Rating: 7/10 (11 September 2017)

I do not go out of my way to watch horror films. I scare easily for one thing and I HATE jump scares which all horror movies seem to have. Jump scares are just lazy tools to make a film scary by having a sudden, violent thing happen to a dumb character and just making the music louder to provoke a reaction. Having a monster or character that is actually scary and has menace to him/her is much more enjoyable to watch and infinitely scarier. This film delivers that but still has jump scares in IT.
I can sum up IT by saying that IT is just a scary version of the Goonies without pirates, retarded strongmen named sloth and treasure. That is not such a bad thing but I just could not shake this impression and it took me out of the film a little bit, especially whenever the fat kid was involved. I just couldn't help thinking "sloth love chunk" whenever he was there.
Okay I have talked about the bad parts, of which there are few, let's talk about the good. This film has very good pacing for starters. Most films have scenes that are filler and serve no purpose whereas all the scenes in IT help with plot and character development. The editing is good with no shaky cam going on when there are chase scenes which is my pet peeve. What is the point of having shake cam in scary scenes or chase scenes??? But luckily this film doesn't do that and that adds to feeling of dread when pennywise is coming straight for you.
The music is very well mixed with the climactic parts being well complemented by music that ups the intensity of the scene and allows the audience to feel the appropriate emotion. As well as score music there is also use of pop music which sets the time of this film (late 1980's) quite well.
The plot is like any other horror plot and follows some conventions like a haunted house or things being hidden in basements but these things are a given in horror films. The film surprised me by having most violent happenings take place during the day and sometimes in the open. Because there is another chapter for this movie already being produced it might be that we learn more about Pennywise and what is he and why does he do these things. It was not explained in this first chapter but that is to be expected I suppose.
The characters are very well played by the child actors, each giving 100% and looking genuinely scared and not breaking character. Child actors are always a mixed bag; some can be great, some can destroy a movie totally. In this film you can tell that they all cared, yes there are some fake crying scenes by some of the cast and this is not great but I usually don't expect much from child actors so this did not ruin my experience.
Not only is the acting good, the character development is good. In the space of this film we see all the kids start to grow up, take on a bigger responsibility and fight their own demons. Beverly Marsh in particular starts off as the social outcast but ends up being a hero of the moment and shows great courage in adversity.
With a good plot and some great, scary scenes this film will give me nightmares but like I said I scare easily anyway. This film, for me, is let down by the jump scares which are cheap and the Goonies vibe I got from it. Everything else was pretty good and I would say watch it if you are or aren't a King fan. It is for everyoneexcept people under 15. Because of laws and stuff.