Great adaptation but not terrifying

Rating: 9/10 (8 September 2017)

Just been to the midnight showing, which was great! Just before I give my thoughts, it is worth pointing out that I am only a quarter of the way through the book, which I was aiming to finish before seeing this ðŸ˜• I have also yet to watch the 90's TV version (which I was to watch after finishing the book), so I can't really draw any comparisons. From the initial reviews, I was expecting to be seeing a terrifying film, which "It" is - if you have a clown phobia. Unfortunately I don't so it wasn't as scary as I expected, but definitely creepy and suspenseful in some parts. Another point that the reviews brought up was that the film was low on the jump-scares which isn't true really as most of the scares seemed to be generated in this way. Also some effects sequences looked a little fake, particularly when Pennywise is moving about, which seems to using CG (quite pointless if you ask me). Onto some positive points. For a film rated 15 though, this film does have a fair amount of blood/gore which I found quite surprising. The cast are great and provide some great drama (as well as some laughs) to the story. The actor playing Pennywise is great, and it'd be interesting to compare with Tim Curry's approach. The film overall was beautifully shot, with great set pieces and a score that fits the tone of the film. However it did seem to go on longer than expected - I honestly thought I'd been sitting for 3 hours (the run time is 2hrs, 15mins). That said, at no point did I ever lose interest in what was happening. Not really a spoiler, but this is the first of two chapters so the ending is really a cliffhanger of sorts, which I was expecting and I do look forward to viewing the next film. Overall the moral of the story here is not to get caught up in the hype of a film. I think people want to be scared by this film, which is fine, it just didn't deliver what was being said in the initial reviews. I'll give it an 8/10 for just now, as it may change after I've finished the book.