IT: Chapter Two Film Review - Time To Come Home As Director Andy Muschietti Takes Us On A Really Long Stephen King Fun Fair Ride

Rating: 8/10 (17 September 2019)

Andy Muschietti again directs the Stephen King clown horror as we open with the Losers Club swearing their oaths to return to Derry if IT resurfaces. And when the all grown up Isaiah Mustafa's Mike hears on the police radio one night that there has been a killing, he visits the site of the murder and finds a message for them written in blood. COME HOME. And for an almost three hour long movie it rattled along, to the point when it ended I felt there was more to come.
After the trauma of IT the members of The Losers Club have drifted apart and eventually lost touch. Living their adult lives with, in some cases, the same demons of the past. But now the horror they have since forgotten as adults has resurfaced 27 years later. And they need to return and renew the blood vows they took as teenagers. And reface the horror.
Bill Skarsgard returns as Pennywise, taking a big bite out of Derry, and Isaiah Mustafa, Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, (great in Trainwreck), Jay Ryan, James Ransone and Andy Bean play the grown-up Losers. Although not too shabbily as they all have made successes of their lives. Except Mike who remained in Maine remembering their past.
And when Mike calls his old friends, none remember him or that past. Not even why they have a scar. When they do the intensity of the fear is rekindled. Dare they go back?
Jessica Chastain's Beverley has the foresight to see their deaths, of all the Losers Club members she was the only one exposed to Pennywise's deadlights. But she runs to Derry when she gets the phone call. Escaping her life. James McAvoy as a horror writer badly in need of an ending, is Bill, whose brother Georgie was Pennywise's victim in the original IT. And who Beverley believes to be her old secret admirer. Bill Hader is Richie. Stand-up comedy hiding a secret that Derry seems particularly bad at dealing with. Jay Ryan's Ben is the former fat kid, now a buff wealthy architect hiding away in his stunning masterpiece, and keeping his human contact to zero. James Ransome's risk averse Eddie is married to a plus-size lady, and she makes him just as neurotic as his Mom did. Lastly Andy Bean is Stanley who decides not to make the journey. To be honest I needed the recap as to who each character was, and the matching of the original kids to their adult actors was very inspired.
Those that have come to Derry meet Mike at a Chinese restaurant, in a lovely scene the years slip away and they're back as old friends. But the fortune cookies do way more than give good luck. With comic book gore that as a 15 certificate I knew wasn't going to be scary, but the fun fair effects were frankly disappointing. But enough to frighten off our Club members.
But Mike needs them to stay and perform a ritual on IT that he learned from a Native American tribe who had settled in the area years before. Explaining to James McAvoy who has assumed a childhood lisp brought on by his fears. Impressive and not unlike his Split characters. And they all need to be part of it. Even Stanley.
IT feeds on their fear and they have plenty. And each has to bring an artefact from the past to the ritual. The young actors from IT reprise their roles as we explore the source of the adults fear. I think Beverley's worked best with the creepy old lady now living in her childhood home. I don't know if Eddie's was even real. But how could Jessica Chastain scream like a girl, after her life and what she has seen.
Overall there weren't the jump scares that would make a horror scary. The horror was right at the beginning of the film, hidden in plain sight. And no town needs a Pennywise for that. But beware the bleachers and Fun House I would say, as danger lurks for any child who wanders off alone. And from my original review of IT in 2017, Derry loses a lot of children.
Although the film horror was a disappointment and I have looked forward to it for so long, the actors were fantastic. Bill Hader's comedy was laugh out loud funny and the interaction between the two casts very cleverly directed by Andy Muschietti. All the wonderful young actors are named in my IT film review.
And what of the ending in the rain sewers below the haunted house? Each of our Losers had their artefact from when their fear began, but they finally have to face the fear to find themselves. And in some cases each other. Again with the fun fair CGI effects, but it all seemed like there was a better story to tell. Like I said at the beginning something more to come. Pennywise was demonic wasn't he?, then make him demonic. As I haven't read the book I don't know how true the ending is, but I needed a big red balloon of a bang instead of a Harry Potter style rollerskating spider.
As a drama it worked very well, as a horror not so much, but the comedy was inspired. Watching Bill Hader and James Ransome trying to decide which door is really the less scary for them to run through was hilarious. Fingers crossed there's a cute puppy behind one of them. A great double act.
And Stephen King's input was noted, 'Here's Johnny' was unexpected but played in with the trailer for Doctor Sleep before the film. The follow up to The Shining.
And as a horror fan I'm already looking forward to that one so don't let me down.