The latest rendition of Stephen Kings IT has the feel of two movies melted together. There are effectively two major plot lines run parallel to each other. The first being a coming of age story somewhat reminiscent to ‘Stand By Me’ meets ‘Stranger Things.’ The other plotline deals with Pennywise the murderous clown feeding on the fears of young children.
The main cast is a stereotypical combination of self-professed losers with intentionally separate and cliche character traits. The individual fears of each character are preyed upon by Pennywise throughout the movie providing a flimsy insight into each character’s backstory.
When watching a horror/thriller movie, obvious jump scares are to be expected and these were certainly delivered. Likewise, ‘tension and release’ is a cornerstone of the movie genre and was also delivered, however, the problem with the movie was the ‘release.’ As mentioned earlier, the secondary plotline is effectively a coming of age movie. When not being harassed by a psychotic clown which appears in the form of a character specific fear, the audience is presented with lighthearted banter between the troupe. The movie goes from polar opposites in the space of minutes. The audience is transported from scenes of blood, the threat of death and jump scares to comic relief banter between the cast.
The direction of some scenes was clever, the acting pretty solid too.
IT delivered every aspect a nightmare could.
On occasions, audience members (me) covered their eyes… because just listening to the sound effects was still terrifying. It’s a movie that could mess you up a little if seen at the wrong stage of your life.
I enjoyed IT.
I found IT delivered.
IT was terrifying – and quirky and cute at times.
Words by Kirsty Burns
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