‘IT’ follows a group of bullied kids who band together when a shape-shifting demon, taking the appearance of clown, begins hunting children. ‘IT’ is a theatrical remake of the 90’s mini series and an adaptation of the popular Stephen King novel. Many people were unsure of the movie and its quality because its been a tradition for Hollywood remakes to fail critically. Hardcore fans of the novel were skeptical as well. The movie has seemingly surpassed expectations as it blew box office sales out of the water, had great critical success, and is green lighted for a sequel.

While ‘IT’ wasn’t one of the scariest movies I’ve seen, ‘IT’ works great as a standalone coming of age story with a creepy clown who feeds on fear. This movie wouldn’t work without the child actors, as they bring the characters from the book right onto the screen. The child actors had a great on and off screen chemistry. The chemistry takes the movie to another level and gives the movie a touch of humor. My two favorite characters were Richie, played by Finn Wolfhard, and Eddie, played by Jack Dylan Grazer. To me, they both were the funniest characters in the movie and I gravitated towards them to turn a dark scene more light hearted. Bill Skarsgård, playing Pennywise the Dancing Clown, made me kind of uncomfortable. While he doesn’t speak much in the movie, Pennywise effectively creeped me out and was a formidable villain for the kids. Skarsgård nails mannerisms solds performance without talking. When he does talk he has a very goofy voice as you would expect a clown to have. Pennywise takes many forms in the film but I think all the pennywise moments worked and were intense and creepy. The movie followed the source material even better than the original that came before.

I think the movie was everything I wanted it to be. It isn’t as scary as I was expecting but it was still a great standalone movie and the actors really help sell the movie. I give ‘IT’ a 9.5/10.