Kind of atmospheric, I guess...

Rating: 6/10 (29 January 2019)

While the lead performances here are fine, I must say the characters in this film are pretty dull. A couple of them have silly quirks - Jay plays with grass a lot and Yara has an e-reader shaped like a clam - but that's it. The premise of Jay being stalked after inheriting a demon through sexual intercourse is neat though, but the problem is in the execution.
I think this film is boring. It screams teen angst, and it's full of awkward teenager stuff like sitting around cross-legged drinking beer, smoking, and talking about first kisses and running away. 'It' is a clever horror concept with clear rules that also encourages you to watch the backgrounds of scenes, but I don't understand the reasoning behind the forms It takes - why does It look like naked people, or a woman peeing herself? I'm also not sure I understand what the climactic swimming pool scene was all about - what was Paul's plan with the electrical appliances (and why didn't it work?), why does It survive, why do Jay and Paul have sex after, and why does this film have so many swimming pools anyway?
On the plus side, the production is incredibly slick. It's very nicely shot (with some impressive 360° camera shots), and the score is wonderfully eerie and not relied upon too much - very good use is made of silence.
Obviously there are sexual undercurrents to It, which reminds of an STD, but I feel like I'm missing something else. There are a lot of quotations from books that the writer probably thought sounded deep, and water seems to be a recurring motif with numerous scenes at either swimming pools or the coast. I'm not sure what the deal is with that kid that keeps spying on Jay either.
The gorgeous cinematography and score are the only things that make this film worth watching for me. It has its moments, and there is a fairly unsettling atmosphere, but it's also pretty boring watching teenagers talk about sex and their childhoods in between those.
6/10.