It | Andres Muschietti

Stay away from all storm drains, ever.

Disclaimer  I haven't read the book, I don't know the characters, I haven't actually seen the older version of It, shamefully. Also, and this may explain my last admission, I fucking hate clowns. 

Well, I saw It. Using italics for titles is a habit carried over from my university days, but has proved necessary in this piece as it's flipping difficult to write about, Google, really do anything with a movie called It.  Anyway, I actually enjoyed It a lot. I did go into the theatre with my hands over my eyes, because clowns, and they probably stayed there until around the halfway mark. You really see Pennywise too often for the clown-ness of him to continue to scare you. What does continue to scare you is the not knowing where he'll come from next, and what form he'll take when he appears. 

It seemed like a few different types of films to me; first, you have the 1980's coming of age story, reminiscent of Rob Reiner's Stand by Me  (1986), also adapted from a Stephen King story (The Body). Then, you have the contemporary horror movie; a kid dies or goes missing which sends the family into meltdown. Seen in films such as Insidious (Wan, 2010), this usually focuses on the parent and plays on our fear of violence against children. There are a number of other genre tropes at play in the film; we have the horrors at home seen in predominantly Beverly, Stan and Eddie's parents, which can be seen in domestic, psychological horrors such as The Sixth Sense  (Shyamalan, 1999).  You also have body horror; Pennywise's torturous bone-cracking and overextending mouth, akin to the Freakshow season of American Horror Story or any horror movie set in a circus.  Also, obviously I don't know as I haven't read the book, but if any of the shots of Bev in the bloody bathroom were a nod towards Carrie (De Palma, 1976), I saw that. I got it. It has been noted.  Anyway, my point was that this was an amalgamation of a number of genres, or at least a number of horror subgenres. But it all worked together, they all complimented each other. The coming of age story made Georgie missing less devastating as it wasn't from a parents point of view. All the various types of horror made sense since Pennywise was adapting his form to different characters fears, so nothing really felt out of place. 

I'm also happy to say, that all the kids were good! It's never nice to say you didn't like the performance of a kid, especially in a beloved story adaptation and I'm so happy that they were all really good. Obviously, I can't say how truthful each character was to their literature counterpart, but there were enough little character details given away (Eddie's fanny packs, Stan's Bar Mitzvah, Ben's NKOTB poster etc) that I can imagine that they were pretty on the money. My main takeaways from the performances were that Sophia Lillis is just perfection, Jaeden Lieberher either does a damn good stutter or just uses it to great emotional effect. Finn Wolfhard is actually very funny when he's not in Stranger Things, Jackson Robert Scott is the CUTEST, and finally my two favourite moments of the Losers club were Wyatt Oleff going OFF at the rest of them for leaving him down in the pipes, which I actually found very touching, and Jack Grazer's delivery of " do not fucking touch me," just as someone resets his broken arm, was, in my opinion, the pinnacle of one of the best performances in the film. 

Overall, I really did enjoy It. I may have to now remove the mask I had hanging in my room, but that's the price I pay to watch Bill Skarsgard jump out of coffins and skulk around the sewers. I do feel like I've neglected to talk out Pennywise itself, but to be honest I need a moment away from clowns. He was very good. Let's leave it at that.