'It' - My Review

I saw It earlier this week at my local multiplex and I had a great time watching a film that ticked all the boxes.

It is a film based on a Stephen King novel of the same name in which a creepy clown called Pennywise pops up every twenty seven or so years in a fictional town called Derry in northeastern USA, terrorizes and kills children for about a year, and then disappears back underground.

The film starts in 1988 and sees a boy named Georgie follow his toy boat down the street before it is washed away down a drain. Trying to retrieve it, he meets Pennywise the clown who promises to hand the boat back. As Georgie puts his arm in, Pennywise severs it and takes Georgie down the drain into the sewer with him. The film reconvenes the following summer and follows Georgie's older brother Bill and his three friends as school ends. They end up befriending three other kids all being picked on by the local bullies and together they try to find out why children keep going missing and what is really hidden in the sewers.

The film was genuinely scary, it did not skimp on jump scares and it was also really fun. The kids each have an individual encounter with Pennywise which are probably the scarier moments of the film. The early encounters are creepy and effective. Ben, whilst studying the Derry's mysterious history, follows a trail of chocolate eggs down to the library records and is chased by a headless creature who then turns into Pennywise. The audience sees the eerie floating red balloon go across the screen behind Ben as a preemptive to Pennywise's arrival. Pennywise transforms into the children's fears to confuse them and make them feel vulnerable. This isn't just about Pennywise being scary, he uses everything that make the "loser's club" tick - from burn victims to lepers, and even clowns. Bill often sees his younger brother Georgie wanting to come home, which later on in the film doesn't fool him and he bravely shoots the fake Georgie knowing that it's Pennywise in disguise.

The main reason why the film works is the Loser's club - the group of seven misfits who all find themselves climbing through sewers and fighting Pennywise, despite hypochondriac Eddie's insistence that "It's summer, we should be out enjoying ourselves!" They are all bursting with personality, whether that's through Richie's inability to shut up or Ben's intelligence or Beverly's fearlessness...they are all likable characters played brilliantly by a talented young cast (Bill Skarsgard is devilishly brilliant as Pennywise too). The film has an overall feel of liking its own characters, you really get behind them. They haven't been dumbed down, they are children written with as much depth as adult characters. Their fears, problems, and quirks burst through the screen and it's refreshing to watch.

Set in the 1980s (the best era for films) with a fun soundtrack, including Kids on the Block and Young MC. There are references to 80s films; Richie jokingly calls Beverly "Molly Ringwald" as she does look a lot like her. The ending is very similar to the end of Stand by Me, another film based off of a Stephen King story, and it has that summer adventure feel that I love about 80s films. Those long, endless summers filled with so much promise. It's often a feature of 1980s films, where a group of, usually, "mis-fits" are thrown into an adventure. Despite being a horror, It really does feel a lot like The Goonies in tone, some of the best moments of the film are when the kids are just together having fun or helping each other. The way they (spoiler) defeat Pennywise in the end, is by working together, they take on their individual fears but as a group. No-one gets left behind. As summer ends and they all go their separate ways, they make a pack to return to Derry if Pennywise returns in twenty seven years. It's a perfect ending.