IT: Chapter One

Film adaptations of Stephen Kings novels always have a hit or miss quality success rate. The main consensus people seem to agree with that is for every good entry in that catalog, there's two or three terrible ones. There are a number of repetitive tropes in a portion of those works such as taking place in Maine, a psychic character, bullies without any redeeming qualities, a weak disappointing payoff, redneck archetypes, a cameo by Stephen King, and weird bizarre things from his books that don't make sense when put on screen. While I haven't read his books, I'm familiar with the good adaptations of his work such as The Shawshank Redemption, Carrie, and The Mist, which are my personal favorites. This brings us to the remake of a TV miniseries based from one of his works, IT. The miniseries came out in 1990 and became a cult film for Tim Curry's iconic performance as one of the famous clowns in horror movies, Pennywise. The marketing campaign for this film made a show of force with their trailers bringing in the creepiness in an attempt to intrigue the public to watch their film version of IT, complete with little clips of Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise. I entered the theater ready to see if this as worth the positive buzz and left it feeling impressed yet bored with aspects of IT.

Please note that any spoilers for this movie will be added to the 2017 Retrospective page at the end of the year

Thoughts on the IT (Miniseries): I have only known of IT through Doug Walker's Nostalgia Critic review that covered the aforementioned cliches and how the 1990 miniseries held up. I watched it recently (both parts total 3 hour runtime, 1 hour 30 minute each part) and it hasn't aged very well as a whole. The only great parts in it are the scenes with the kids (part 1), a few scenes are creepy (part 1), and Tim Curry's entertaining performance as Pennywise. The second part is very dismal with the adults, most of them being annoying as well as bad acting, the payoff is very weak, and the writing is terrible (especially for all of the trolling Pennywise has been doing to these children, he could have easily killed them and went on his way).

Plot: The plot follows a group of kids in Derry, Maine during Summer 1989, who must work together to defeat a mysterious antagonistic clown. The story is cluttered bag when it's using the massive novel written by Stephen King. There are many pieces of the story being portrayed such as the kids troubled lives with abusive parents, Pennywises attacks, and the gang spending time together with teenage shenanigans ensuing. While that may not sound like much, some elements of them are done pretty well (like some of the creepy moments, some of the coming of age arcs, and teenager interactions), the unnecessary storylines exhaust the runtime as well as the audiences patience (including mine). With all the complaints there are against the clunky story structure, it's hard to deny the fun relatable experience of watching these underdogs struggle to triumph against the menace they face both internal and external. Overall the underdog plot being presented in IT has good moments with the storylines and creepy moments that should have been left alone in this chapter but the tedious nature of the irrelevant material slightly undercuts the effort of what worked.

Characters: The characters to focus on are Bill (Jaeden Lieberher), Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Bev (Sophia Lillis), Richie (Finn Wolfhard), Stan (Wyatt Olef), Mike (Chosen Jacobs), and Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer). The actors all do their best with the material they're given, with mixed results. As a whole, their group interactions are pretty realistic (including plenty of foul language), with each kid having their own personality (for the most part), and have some nice bits of intentional comic relief. Honorable mentions go to Bill, Bev, and Ben for not only their great believable performances but also the former two having well handled story arcs with great character growth and the latter being able to sympathetically portray the new kid stereotype (and looking adorable). Mixed mentions Mike, Eddie, and Richie since while their acting chops are good and provided some nice bits of humor (notably the latter two), all three aren't developed much, the former being a plot character and Richie mostly being used as a Stranger Things representative (especially when Finns constant swearing can be annoying a few times), despite being pretty entertaining. Dishonorable mention goes to Stan for having the least amount of personality out of the group members and being the most forgettable to the story compared to the aforementioned members (cutting him out would help ITs length, since replacing him with a lamp wouldn't change a thing). Overall while the chemistry between the actors are worth watching with how relatable they feel, only half of them are given good development and personality, while the other half tend to struggle being sidelined as stereotypes with little to no growth.

Pennywise -"Art of Scaring": As for the main antagonist, Pennywise (aka one of the reasons people watched the trailer), he's also a mixed bag and a product of the times. Bill Skarsgard gives a great portrayal in this creepy role where he's able to balance deception and aggression in his mannerisms. The problem, however, comes to the presentation of his movements via computer effects. When talking from a dark distance in an intimidating mood, Pennywise is sinister, devious, and chilling. But the minute he starts moving and grabs a victim, all that tension is thrown out the window when the computer effects are at work, his body is shaking like a seizure in fast forward in that rush. Honestly they inadvertently transitioned from terrifying to it's so bad it's funny territory (for me at least). The effect feel like something you would see in a generic horror, but, despite that issue, there's creativity present in certain parts involving his powers when they try to confront him a few times. Overall any potential for horror or tension they had planned with Bill Skarsgards great performance and is offset by computer effects that immediately turns Pennywise aggressive behavior humorous.

Overall Consensus: IT carries good potential via a great cast/character interactions, creepy moments, and well crafted horror environment but struggles with clunky formation pushing the runtime, scarce horror, and typical Stephen King cliches. ⭑⭑⭑🎟

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned cast. You don't mind watching kids getting killed by a clown. You like the original novel and want to see how they adapted it here. You like good Stephen King adaptations. You want to see if Pennywise scares you. You don't mind films that force 1980s pop culture references. You aren't afraid of clowns. You don't mind hearing teenagers use dirty swear words. You and/or your significant other are looking for a standard horror film for date night. You don't mind the aforementioned Stephen King cliches. You like underdog coming of age stories.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned cast. You hate watching kids getting hurt or killed by a clown. You dislike the original novel. You dislike Stephen King adaptations. You are annoyed by forced 1980s pop culture references. You are afraid of clowns. You dislike hearing teenagers use dirty swear words. You are annoyed by the aforementioned Stephen King cliches. You dislike adults who are either abusive or pedophiliac.

Coming up next: September-versary 1: The Movie Menace has managed to impress me two times in a row so far. The spooky nature of IT may have had a jumbled story structure, but it managed to have enjoyable moments with the cast involved and a memorable Pennywise. The next entry will be announced on the Facebook page for Screening Spectacles later this month.

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