So, before I talk about this movie, I feel as though I should mention the original miniseries from the 90s. Honestly, I felt as though it wasn't scary. più silly, if anything. Pennywise was just yucking it up throughout the whole film in a gloriously hilarious performance da Tim Curry, some of the scares are pretty dated if te ask me, and I don't even want to talk about the disappointing appearance of the true form of Pennywise. So, to be honest, my expectations for this film were as low as they could possibly go. So, when I watched it in the theaters, I was shocked to see just how good it was. It follows a group of called the Losers (Not the greatest name in the world, but whatever), consisting of group leader and main character Bill, Jewish kid Stan, fat kid Ben, ... girl Beverly, funny guy Richard, walking quarantine zone Eddie, and black kid Mike, who are trying to find out the murders of children caused da a paranormal clown. Now, first off, I never found clowns scary. I saw them as overused and kind of annoying, but here, I find him to be più threatening. He can be a little goofy at points, sure, but when compared to the original It, he looks like Hannibal in comparison. Not to mention, how he uses fear, going into the gangs psyche and becoming what they fear the most in physical form. It really makes Pennywise a much più threatening horror movie antagonist instead of... Whatever Tim curry was doing.
Before I sposta on to the successivo thing, let me talk about something tiny. It's the little letter te see at the bottom of the movie poster: R. This is an R rated horror movie. Now, sure, all of the modern horror Film I've seen, like Don't Breathe and Annabelle: Creation were all R rated, but they didn't seem to push the R rating that far. But It. It really does push it. When te see a child in a horror movie, te wouldn't expect them to be killed, o if they are, it would be off screen. Not in It. In this movie, the first child in the movie, in the first few minutes, gets his arm ripped off da the clown and then dragged into the sewer. And yes, it shows everything. The kid's meat chunk where his arm was, the screams of agony and fear, the blood inside the rain puddles. This movie doesn't pull any punches. When it shows te a murder scene, it shows it. The death scenes are few, but when they mostra them, they don't hold back. They truly do push that R rating. Speaking of the kids, they are all actually well acted, and decently written. I thought I was gonna hate all these kids, but I actually grew to like them. The side characters though, from Beverly's dad to the bullies, they were at least well acted. I'm not kidding when I say the scenes between Beverly and her father made me più uncomfortable than any scene with Pennywise. Just watch them and tell me te don't start to squirm in your seat. They're that uncomfortable, but that's a good thing in my eyes.
Another thing I liked about It is that, between the cuore racing fear moments, there were parts that were just chilled and humorous, and I mean that in a good way. When the characters are just hanging out, either da going to a swimming hole o da going around town and just chatting, it can be a lot of fun, and can be pretty funny at times. I thought that these kids would just be one dimensional philosophy dispensers that just try way too hard to be deep. No, it's the opposite. They're just some high school kids hanging out and being their dumb high school selves. They felt way più believable than any college kids in a slasher film precedente from this movie. Hell, I grew to enjoy these characters that I didn't want to see any of them killed off. I rarely want all the characters to live in a story, but damn if It didn't make me care for these characters survival. Not all of them are good, sadly. I feel like the character, Mike, is just kind of dragged along for the ride in this movie. I don't hate him, but he doesn't really do a whole lot. The same could be detto about Richard, but he at least manages to be there for comedic purposes, and is there throughout the entire film. Mike just kinda shows up and is gone for a major chunk of the film. But other than that, I really do enjoy the kids in this movie. They aren't terrible.
The movie isn't perfect, sadly. There are points where I thought it was pretty dumb. Like when the kids walk into places that could have easily been avoided but just do so just so we can get più scares from Pennywise the Dancing Clown. And, no spoilers, but Bill was the king of stupid choices, especially near the end of the movie. It got to a point where I was frustrated and just wanted him to stop so I wouldn't end up hating him. I tried my hardest not to hate Bill, but he made it hard for me, I can assure you. But, thankfully, he made up for it. I also notice that there were some similar jumpscares. They aren't too bad, but come on, how many times do we need to see Pennywise scurry to the camera with a loud booming sound? Hell, how many times do we need to have his eyes slowly open with a loud boom sound? Why have the boom sound there? te couldn't just have no sound at all and create a più unnerving feeling that way? But no, loud booming is scarier.
While it does have some typical horror movie tropes, It più than makes up for it with some great acting, characterization, and some unique scares that più than once left me excited in the theater. And, again, no spoilers, but I can safely say that the final confrontation with Pennywise was way better than the original. Sure, I know that this won't be the last It movie, and this was just the first chapter, which I am excited to see. It was a good horror movie. Probably the best I've seen this year. I still think Don't Breathe is the best modern horror movie, but It is a very close second. It will probably go up there with Body Snatchers, The Fly, and The Thing (Carpenter's) as one of the best reboots. But, I think we can all agree that, Richard playing the original, first strada, via Fighter game was the true terror of this film. That game was terrible. Take care.
