It's The Best Adaptation Of Novel

Rating: 7/10 (5 May 2019)

Muschietti helms an exceptional horror mystery drama. Of all of King's canon of novels this ranks, in this viewer's opinion, as the fourth best adaptation behind Kubrick's "The Shining", Reiner's "Misery" and Reiner's "Stand By Me". This film has substantial direction, screenplay, cinematography, settings, costume, special effects, score and acting. All of the actors involved deliver appreciable performances. In particular Lillis and Skarsgard are superb. Skarsgard's portrayal of the daft, horrific and savage Pennywise is so convincing it was as if I was reading the novel again back in the late 80's. The plot is set in Derry, ME in the summer of 1989. A year earlier Bill Denbrough's younger brother George goes missing and Bill is grief stricken but continues to believe that George is alive. In 1988 George had been chasing a paper folded sailboat along a curb on a rainy day when the boat drops into a storm drain. That is when the devious and deranged Pennywise convinces Georgie to come close enough to retrieve his boat and come float with the others. Bill's friends are skeptical of George still being alive but appease Bill in his investigation. His friends all have struggles of their own and include Ben who is overweight and constantly bullied; Richie who uses foul language and a loud mouth to gain attention; Stanley who is the son of an oppressive rabbi and is haunted by a ghoulish women; Mike who is a lonely black kid living on the outskirts of Derry and cherishes having friends; Eddie who is always sick and constantly using his inhaler and Beverly who is the new tomboy in town who lives with an extremely abusive father. They are constantly being harassed and bullied by a psychopath Henry Bowers and his gang. Ben discovers in a library that Derry has been plagued for centuries by tragedies that occur every 27 years. Pennywise terrorizes each of the kids by capitalizing on their weaknesses. After they all realize they have all had encounters with the entity they give Pennywise the moniker It. They call themselves "The Losers Club" and determine It travels though the sewer lines undetected and resides in a well where all the lines connect. The well is under a well known abandoned haunted house. The seven confront Pennywise at the house and Beverly is able to fight the entity off forcing It to retreat. Beverly is kidnapped by Pennywise which forces the remaining six to venture down into the harrowing lair of It which has bodies of the missing children floating atop a mountainous pile of children's toys, clothing and circus props. There they encounter a now insane Bowers and must do battle with It. The plot is thrilling, intelligent, captivating, insightful, cathartic, spine-tingling and has an ambiguous ending. In this viewer's opinion the film examines the struggles of youth and the power of friendship. The main theme is that as one each character has their own struggles and weaknesses but as group they heal each other and become a powerful force that can accomplish their dreams in life. The film has many hair-raising scenes that deliver nightmarish chills. My favorite scene is when "The Losers Club" is viewing a slide projector that speeds up as if they were watching a video reel and Pennywise first appears on a screen before propelling forward out of it. There are also many sinister quotes. My favorite is when Pennywise is introducing himself to George so that they'll know each other and he says in a creepy and frightening voice, "Well I'm Pennywise and you're Georgie". The ambiguous ending was perfect as the story continues in the novel after the encounter with Pennywise at the well as "The Losers Club" reunites 27 years later. This film is now labeled as "It" Chapter One. Chapter Two is due this year. This is a film that delivers psychological and terrifying jolts. It is a significant film in "It's", pun intended, genre.