Excellent, terrifying and one of the best horrors of all time. Expect a nail-biting, scary story as well as a sweet coming-of-age story

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2017)

Often when you look at click-bait lists of 'Top 50 Horror Films Of All Time', you see the same films listed over and over; 'Nightmare on Elm Street', 'The Shining', 'Dawn of the Dead' and 'The Exorcist'. This is why it's so refreshing to see a new film with the potential to jump straight to the top of these lists. Over the last few years we haven't had many; Insidious and The Conjuring perhaps, but the amount of new entries is limited. Ever since the first trailer dropped like a bomb on the internet, there's been an inescapable hype circling It. Now it's finally here, it's a relief to see that the hype wasn't for nothing and, even more fortunately, It deserves a special seat in any Top Horror list.
One thing left out of the marketing was that this is only the first film, something that's only revealed at the end. It's only to be expected; King's original novel is too long to fit an average 2 hours; also most films nowadays that enjoy any hype or success inevitably become franchises – especially when something like It becomes a record-breaking success scoring an impressive estimated $117 million on its opening weekend.
Although the prospect of having yet another franchise to keep up with is worth a groan, this film isn't an irritatingly shameless attempt at building a world no one knows if they want (like with The Mummy earlier this year). Despite leaving questions open and unanswered at the end (thus requiring the second film), this film would otherwise be a strong film able to stand on its own, without a franchise behind it. Fortunately they didn't cram the whole book into one film since it would lose a lot of its strength – a great aspect of the film is the pacing, details and insights we get into each and every character. Still, this doesn't mean that the story within the film is flawless. Whilst we all understand that many questions posed at the end will be answered in the sequel, it does seem initially underwhelming and annoying not to give us any answers at the end. In the finale we find out what Pennywise has been up to, all of it not quite seeming straightforward – and then it's over, without giving us any clue to ponder on while we wait for the upcoming chapter. The end does get a bit ridiculous to be honest; the idea of a group of young children being able to confront a supposedly powerful, murderous monster begs belief.
These issues towards the end aside, however, this film tells the story of Stephen King's novel excellently and with terrific pace. It's as much a coming-of-age story as it is a horror, with the director and writers allowing as much time for us to get to know the kids as they do for the scares. We don't just see a whole story revolving around Pennywise; if anything Pennywise is just the catalyst that causes the group's bond to become so strong – the real story is about the end of childhood and coming to terms with our fears. This theme and message comes across organically. The story of the group is often sweet and funny – it's not all dark and scary, oft-times coming across like a Spielberg film, Super 8 or Stranger Things. The real strength of the children is really down to the actors. Child actors can sometimes be a gamble, especially if the whole film revolves around them and it's not a movie for children. Yet any gamble here certainly pays off, since every young actor in this film is terrific and worthy of every ounce of praise they get. Having a balance between delightful, nostalgic scenes of childhood and sinister scenes of horror has a double effect; it gives us a variety of strong, rounded characters performed by hugely talented young actors to make up an excellent ensemble and the scary scenes become even more potent by contrast.
It's these scary scenes that initially draw such a huge audience and they deliver the scares in spades. Mature and well-shot, there are scenes here soon to become iconic, their film techniques studied for decades to come. There are some jump scares, but they are good, satisfying and never cheap, rather the tension is built up to a wonderful climax in each horror-imbued scene. Excellent horror- cinematography aside though, Skarsgård's Pennywise is the real horror star. A perfect successor to Tim Curry's iconic original in 1990, there should be as much credit given to the design and make-up behind the clown as there is to Skarsgård's performance. Creepy and sinister with an unnerving smile one minute, then, with just a small change of facial expression, the next minute the monster within becomes obvious and absolutely terrifying. Neither underused or overused, Pennywise is certainly the hideous joy that delivers what everyone wanted from this film – an irrational phobia of clowns.
The film also takes advantage of the various scares that chase the children. If clowns don't give you the shivers, then something here will. The range of scare means no specific fear becomes boring and overseen. The film also goes one step further in bringing horror from the parents of the group. Sinister and perverted, there's more than just a vicious clown on the loose and the dark aspects coming from the children's very homes make it all the more captivating and unnerving.
Whether clowns scare you or not, this is without doubt a horror film that you need to see. Sinister, tense and undeniably terrifying with an intricate, scary plot, it's also sweet, innocent and very funny with a nostalgic and thought-provoking insight into childhood. The scares are big and enjoyable and Pennywise is the horror icon we all want. Everyone's favourite dancing clown is back to float this movie to a success and you should want to float too.