It sinks... It all sinks down here...

Rating: 5/10 (30 October 2017)

So, as far as adaptations go of Stephen King works, this is one of the better ones. I should qualify that by saying that, although decent, it is by no means a mirror of the book. In fact, the earlier mini-series starring Tim Curry was a more faithful adaptation in that respect. However, when we consider the usual butchery done to King's stories when translated to film, this isn't the worst offender by far.
With all that out of the way, you'll note I have given the film a middling five score. The main reason for that is simple. The movie relies entirely on jump scares and strident Inception-like horn blasts for its scares. It is, essentially, the horror movie equivalent of a laughter track, designed to prompt the audience to be afraid. However, once this formula becomes apparent to the viewer in a movie - any movie - its power to scare you actually diminishes almost to zero.
A lot of so-called horror movies rely on this audience prompting. It's sad in a way, because I'm old enough to remember when old horror movies of the 70's and 80's realised this mistake and tried at least to change it up so that not every jump scare (or setup for a jump scare) actually resulted in a "shock". Nowadays, it seems like modern film-makers have forgotten even that much guile when they make such movies. Or maybe they just don't care to make a movie that keeps you on your toes anymore. Or perhaps, they just don't care.
So, It isn't a very scary horror movie. It relies too much (entirely, really) on these jump scares and an amount of gore that, sadly, is all too present in these types of efforts.
As a movie it does its job reasonably well. I mentioned earlier that it isn't a bad adaptation of King's book. Certainly it is miles better than the recent Dark Tower mess. However, the story isn't fleshed out sufficiently to make you really care about the characters and, honestly, this Pennywise is far less creepy and disturbing than Tim Curry's version.
Once again, I am forced to conclude that King's books are better in a serialised format rather than a standalone movie (though this is set up to be a duology). Accordingly, things feel rushed and some of the editing is a bit abrupt. There's no steady build-up. Just a succession of jump scares and thinly dealt with backstories.
It's not terrible, but neither is it as good as you might be led to believe.
SUMMARY: Jump scares! Loud noises! Gore! Thin characterisations and rushed story. Tried to pack too much into too little. Typical horror tropes that drag it down into the sewer. It doesn't float, it sinks.