Rarely has there been a movie as horrifying yet often humorous as “It” (2017).
This new adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel blends together the horrors of both clowns and being a kid in middle school. “It” is not the scariest movie you will see in your lifetime; however, it has its moments. At the same time, the movie is also relatively well put-together. The two factors that brought this movie together were Bill Skarsgård’s portrayal of Pennywise the Clown and Finn Wolfhard’s comedic portrayal of Richie. The perfect description of this movie is if “The Conjuring” and “Stand by Me” were edited into one film.
While “It” was a fun movie, all of the horror tropes in this film have been seen before. However, the interesting characters are what keep the film from being boring and predictable. “It” is the perfect movie for a first date, especially this early in the school year.
Because “It” was such an enjoyable movie, I had very few grievances against it. All of the problems with this movie have nothing to do with the production quality, but instead have to do with the source material. Why were only these thirteen-year-old kids going after this creature? Why were there no adults in the town smart enough to realize, ‘Hey, there are a lot of kids missing every twenty-seven years, and they all have gone missing around the sewer.’ Didn’t any adults use their noggins to decipher that maybe these disappearances were connected? Maybe they should’ve gotten law enforcement, or perhaps even the military involved in solving these missing children cases.
I’ve watched “Criminal Minds” enough to know that if at least two murders or disappearances happen within a relatively close distance, the FBI is called in. The FBI should have been called to see what was happening, and once they figured out that there was a demon clown in the sewer, they needed to evacuate everyone from the dangerous town of Derry. After evacuating, a squad of both Navy SEALS and Green Berets should have been sent in to destroy It in the sewers, similar to how the giant ants in the 1954 movie “Them” were destroyed. Anything would have made more sense than a bunch of thirteen year olds figuring all of this out, independent of adult supervision.
Although this major plot point seems illogical, the viewer must remember that it is not the fault of the movie, but the source material. The children going after the demon clown was how the original book, by King, was written. Therefore, based on the story material the director had to work with, the movie was executed brilliantly.
All of this being said, while “It” shares a plot with the original 1990 television version, the 2017 remake is far superior, in both acting and special effects. In the 1990 version, Pennywise has the kids in his grasp numerous times, yet he seems to just let the children go for no reason at all. Even the portrayal of Pennywise the clown is done better by Skarsgård than Tim Curry. Curry’s performance is not bad; in fact he is the best part of the 1990’s movie. However, matched to Skarsgård, Curry pales in comparison, both in terms of his acting and just how scary he is. The 1990 version just can’t hold its ground over the remake.
“It” was an enjoyable movie that was both scary and fun, and hopefully in twenty-seven years when Pennywise comes back, “It” will be considered a classic.