4.25/5
Reviewed September 20, 2017
Stephen King movies are historically hit or miss. For every Carrie, The Shining, and Misery, there’s a Cat’s Eye, Graveyard Shift, and the Night Flier. IT, all roughly 1200 pages of it, is a classic horror novel involving a shape-shifting monster that feeds off of the fear (and bodies) of the children of Derry, ME. A group of “losers” bands together to fight the menace, while all along he continues to terrorize them (as do the townsfolk). The imagery of the book is…very dark, demented, and gory. King was on a looooooot of drugs at this point in his career, and it shows. The full book was made into a 4 hour miniseries famously starring Tim Curry as the titular IT, aka Pennywise the clown, and takes place during the childhoods and adulthood of the Loser Club, aka the Derry 7. This part 1 remake only follows the childhood era, but it does a pretty great job overall (and a part 2 is coming). Honestly, this is a great adaptation, and a great horror movie overall. Watch IT.
Disclaimer: I LOVED the campy 1990 IT version. Tim Curry was masterful as Pennywise, and his delivery still haunts me (and many others). The humor and the oppressive atmosphere were great (although it only had PG-13 due to network restrictions). The story felt rich and deep, and although the ending was pretty dang bad, it was a great ride. I will probably compare a few of the “bad” sections with how the miniseries did them (fair or not). This is one of those adaptations that sometimes is better served deviating from the source material (sewer orgy).
The Bad:
- I’ll come right out and say it: I didn’t like a lot about this version of Pennywise. He was a monster and ONLY a monster. In the miniseries, Pennywise was taunting and teasing the children, messing with their minds in a variety of ways (blood-filled balloons, visions, etc). but those visions weren’t attempting to truly hurt/kill them. He was feeding off their fear alone. In this version, every time Pennywise encounters the children, he’s a straight-up monster and tries to murder them, only for them to be saved by doors, running into old ladies, and hilariously by Bowers and co at one point. I didn’t like the voice of this version either. When he talked, it was…really stiff. And not scary or causing dread in any way IMO. Again, I’m biased cause Tim Curry made you scared to death of clowns, but this one didn’t seem to add up. I did appreciate a few things, and I’ll throw those in the good section.
- The movie, although 137 minutes, felt like it rushed over a few of what seem to be pivotal plot issues. Why was Bowers angry at Ben and wanted to carve his name into his stomach (book is very graphic, and the miniseries even gives a reason). This movie does not give a reason, outside of “new kid”. Wasn’t a fan of shifting the historian aspect from Mike to Ben, because it left the Mike character feeling a bit less developed. The film never addressed Derry Syndrome, aka a key component of why all the adults are so messed up. Little things, but a few quick scenes could have easily made the difference.
- Some of the animation, especially the focus on some of the times Pennywise was dancing…felt really poorly done for how good the rest of it was.
- Bathroom blood scene, especially the hair part, seemed overly excessive (modern gore fetish). I get it was graphic in the book, but honestly the much simpler version in the miniseries worked for me. Especially the dad coming in and getting blood on himself and wiping it on Bev; thought that was much better than just everything covered in blood (but definitely a great acting performance by Sophia Lillis, which I’ll get into).
- Bowers’ goon squad had 0 personality or development, outside of Patrick who gets munched on. Was sad, cause they’re actually solid characters (again, miniseries). Also, did he die? Cause isn’t he supposed to be back again as an adult (or is that just miniseries change?)
- Beep Beep Ritchie. Never once used by any normal character (it was the way to make him shut up), until the clown randomly does it during the house showdown. Um…no. not cool.
The Good:
- Gotta give props to basically every actor in this movie, ESPECIALLY Sophia Lillis as Beverly. The guy playing her dad was also very, very good at what he was doing. All the kids excelled (also props to Jackson Scott as Georgie).
- The atmosphere. Oppressive, dark, tense. One of the best examples I’ve seen of a movie’s tone really setting the stage for everything going on. The only truly “bright” tone moments were when the Loser Club was hanging out together in places like the quarry. Well done.
- Pennywise the monster. As a monster, he was great. Maybe not as scary as some were expecting, but definitely someone you didn’t want to run into in a dark sewer (ask Patrick H). Nearly eats Stan’s face, grabs Bev, chases the kids all over, and generally causes terror. Them teeth…. This version of the monster was superior to the miniseries, mainly due to the R rating that allowed them to make it as dark as I like my chocolate.
- The most dangerous monster in this movie wasn’t Pennywise. It was Mr. Marsh, the daughter-molester. Holy fuck was that intense, and he got what he deserved.
- How the fight changed as the kids got less and less afraid of the clown and his distorted visions. Especially when Ritchie pulls out a baseball bat off the trash pile in Pennywise’s house and starts whooping on him with it. SO GOOD.
- The lack of sewer orgies
- Watching the kids stand up to their abusive parents (the ones shown anyways). Eddie going after his mom (different style of bad parent than in the miniseries) was pretty great too (and something I’ve wished a LOT of people i knew had done over the years)
- Pennywise taking over the projector, that entire sequence.
I really did like this movie, even with the complaints from above. they’re mostly minor. Definitely one of the best King adaptations to date.
Getting Reel with Mr. Sunshine 