There are at least three requirements I need when it comes to big budget Hollywood horror films, I call it the Poltergiest (1982) test, either scare, creep or thrill me. Some films very rarely do all if any. IT based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, falls somewhere between being interesting enough that I didn’t fidget to much in my seat and wasn’t bored, fact is for all the money spent on this, its very light on the scares or rather the ineffectivenes of it. What works are the performances from the young stars but the two that impressed me the most were ( Jeremy Ray Taylor ) as the bullied fat kid and (Sophia lillis) the lone female of this little band of outcasts, privately struggling with her own sexual maturity and the problems that comes with it. she is the shining star out of the group and probably the best jailbait ever on screen for teen boys since Ally Sheedy from Wargames.
The overall premise is meshed with a coming of age tropes mixed with childhood fears. A sewer dwelling entity called Pennywise ( played with obvious menace 101 by Bill Skarsgard ), using various visages of a circus clown and other nightmarish images to terrorize the youngsters of Derry Maine, consuming their life and fears for immortality every 27 years. Director (Andy Muschietti ) telegraph the spectoral situations with a pedestrian eye suited more for a Halloween parade in daylight. As sadly suspected loud clanging music and a generic jump scare style follow, making no lasting impression. The movie is listless, lacking a grounded urgency to give any gravitas to the events thát we the audience should be invested in. Despite all this the film still holds our interest when the kids are on screen dealing with earthly problems like social acceptability or personal difficulties. It is the Stand by Me moments that actually work best.
Unfortunately when the supernatural starts getting in gear, the film falters, missing some really needed complexities to flesh out the town’s history and a few minor character aside, but at least IT has a reasonable running time.
Bring on part 2.
I give it a decent Pabst blue ribbon, but a chaser is neêded.