When movies--horror movies in particular--get as much attention as this big-screen rendition of Stephen King's IT, there's always an inner fear that it can turn into yet another over-hyped disaster. While stakes here weren't quite as high as, say, Episode VII of Star Wars, a risky play call was still made. And it payed of immensely.
IT was, without a doubt, one of the most terrifying horror movies I have seen. Period. Minimizing horror-movie cliches, IT strikes fear into its audience in unexpectedly exhilarating ways. Even in instances where a jump-scare or a pulse-pounding experience is obviously approaching, the scream from the audience is no quieter despite their expectations of it. So many scares were set up in a similar pattern throughout the movie, which can easily become a recipe for eventual boredom. In ways that are almost inexpiable, IT manages to be just as scary even when it attempts to do so at inopportune times.
What makes this movie so unlike any of its horror movie predecessors is that for so much of the film it doesn't feel like a horror movie. Most--but not all--horror movies spend very little time in the light of day and only serve to scare you in bad lighting or in a way when the demonic character is barely seen. What I loved about watching IT was that there was almost no end to the scares. Most horror movies serve some plot to set up some scares, scare you, have some plot exposition, and scare you some more later. What makes this movie so revolutionary is that its scares are the exposition, not a side order to the plot. One scare timelessly leads to another, never allowing the audience to experience a cheap one.
In the light of not having cheap scares, the movie does an outstanding job of bringing light to the protagonist children's fears and portraying them in a way that will leave viewers with fears they were previously unaware of. I give immense credit to all the child-actors starring in this movie. Their performances were all they needed to be, serving to be a diversely enjoyable cast. However, the true show-stopper is undoubtedly (albeit expected) Bill Scarsgard's Pennywise.
Not only did Pennywise leave even the most experienced horror-movie-watcher of the audience screaming louder than a kid on a roller-coaster, but his screen time was pleasantly lengthy. Rather than an appearance that jumps out briefly for a shock factor and leaves faster than it appears (while that does occasionally happen), Pennywise typically remains on the screen in full, lit view, further petrifying the audience with every second. You think seeing him more often and for lengthy periods would make him less scary? You think you'd get used to him after two hours? Well, you're wrong. Not only was he presented perfectly in the film, but Scarsgard's performance was nothing less than outstanding. He was the best clown performance since Heath Ledger's Joker.
Because of so many daytime scares and lengthy screen-time fear, IT seemed less fitting for the horror genre than that of a suspenseful thriller. Yes, I know, horror movies are meant to be both suspenseful and thrilling, but when you think of a suspense movie you typically think of an action film starring Denzel Washington or Tom Cruise as opposed to an adaptation of a Stephen King novel. Classifying this movie as feeling more like a thriller should not give the false precept that that make it any less scary. If anything, it will serve to scare you even more, particularly if you're an avid horror-movie-goer. Truly, your experience may be what serves to scare you the most, because everything you have come to expect from said experience will be both horrifically magnified and beautifully shattered.
However, true to the slogan of Cinemasins that I happen to agree with, this movie, despite its greatness, is still not "without sin." Because the protagonists are all children depicted to be at or around the age of 13, the writers composed a script that often felt like it was straight out of an episode of South Park. Now, I will say that the unexpected and successful humor is, in part, what makes this movie so enjoyable. However, the relentless crude humor leaking through the lips of these young actors often felt forced and quite unnecessary. Now, don't get me wrong, I have no issue with crude humor and am known to be an avid fan of Family Guy and South Park. However, my issue with the script came not from its being crude, but from its crudeness seeming often forced and out-of-place. Humor absolutely has its place in this movie and was surprisingly hilarious, but the only slight disappointment was when the swearing and amount of sex jokes that rivaled Deadpool took away from the fear this movie served so well.
You'll laugh. You'll scream. You'll scream again. But what you won't be doing afterward is sleep. Plenty of people are afraid of clowns; but if you aren't one of them, trust me: you will be.
I give this movie a whopping 89%, making it undoubtedly
Theater Worthy. Twice.
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