Hopefully you're one of my readers, and hopefully you know that I love movies, like properly love them, that love is usually just me however, very rarely will my enthusiasm for movies be shared by the people around me. It makes me so happy then that people are actually excited to see a film, people I work with, my siblings and friends, buzzing almost as much as I am, I fucking love it. That film is IT, a horror remake about a killer clown, the universe provides I suppose, but is this latest effort good, that's the really importantly question, and the short answer is yes, hell fucking yes, but the long answer? it's longer, obviously.
I made the choice not to finish watching the original IT with Tim Curry before watching this, since I've also not read the book and don't want spoilers, but what's immediately apparent, aside from the Hollywood production quality and better kid acting, is the level of brutality; the bigger budget and better effects means this film can and will show it's horror to the fullest extent, and me and my friends were not ready for that, it's pretty shocking that they show some of the things they show, and me and my friends knew then that we were in for a good time. But unlike most horror films, IT's focus isn't on the creepy clown, similar to more character driven horrors like The Thing, IT concentrates on the people; The Losers Club, who are our heroes in this tale. Their de facto leader; Bill, is one of the most prominent characters, primarily driven by a need to solve his brother's disappearance, and then of course a mission to stop Pennywise, and what's good about Bill is that motivation, as anyone with siblings can relate to him, and unlike his grief stricken parents, who have abandoned hope, he hasn't given up, which is a great example of this film's depiction of childhood, free from the nihilism of being an adult, it's something everyone can understand and relate to, as we were all like that. His friends are all the typical people you'd expect, but the film does a fantastic job of establishing their characters, by delving into their fears. Fear is a very powerful thing, we all have fears; even me, and a monster that can literally embody our personal fears can make for some fantastic horror, which is does, but also some great character development. A particularly interesting character is Beverly, no spoilers obviously, but her fears are the most morbid of the club, and the dynamic that plays out with her and both her fear and Pennywise goes to some riveting and very symbolic places, her and Bill are the main focuses of the story, and are definitely the most interesting characters. The rest of the club do get pushed to the back a bit, but there's no one weak member, each one has their fears, and each one has their moment of being scared out of their fucking minds, and it's so satisfying to see them take those fears on, I think there's enough subtext in there for a Redux review. But Pennywise is not the only villain, there's of course bullies, and these freaks are some of the most psychotic bullies I've seen in a film, Henry in particular, but IT does a great job of setting up its characters, and Henry is no exception. While at first he's just the bully, where the film takes his character is somewhere I wasn't expecting, and I actually really liked it, which isn't to say he turns good, oh no, he goes from douchebag to full on psychopath, but the reasons for this are pretty impressively fleshed out, and it fleshes out Pennywise as well, as we see just how manipulative he is. then there's Pennywise the Clown, and while the film focuses on the kids, when Pennywise is on screen, he is all you can look at, far from just being a scary clown, Pennywise is more comparable to a villain like Heath Ledger's Joker. The blend of funny and scary is perfect, and the contrast between the 2 is fantastic, as you see him chewing on a severed hand, it's really hard to tell what reaction the film wants out of you, unlike the numerous times when it's clearly trying to scare you, which I'll get to in a minute. IT's strength is in its characters and story, it's an emotionally weighted and relatable coming of age story disguised as a horror, and the messages it offers about friendship and the innocence of childhood is more valuable than any crap a film like The Emoji Movie can offer, not that this film is necessarily a family friendly watch, because it's not.
I don't watch many horror films, so maybe I haven't built much of a tolerance, but there are times when this film is really fucking scary. And like another horror film I loved; The Conjuring 2, IT knows what it's doing, the film is almost devoid of jumpscares, and instead relies almost entirely on its imagery and atmosphere to make the scares. What jumpscares there are, with the exception of one, just one, all have a good amount of build up, and the film deploys it's scares wisely, never psyching the audience out, if something makes you jump, it's because you're actually meant to be scared of it, even the weakest jumpscare in the film, one with no build up or projection at all, is still a Pennywise scare. Again though, the film is more dependent on its atmosphere and imagery, so let's start with the imagery. Rotting corpses, severed limbs, graphic depictions of death and harm, and enough blood to put an Eli Roth film to shame. Similar to another film I love; The Thing, part of IT's horror comes from distortion and degradation of the body; a deformed leper, a pack of zombies, a living painting, and of course the consistently uncanny Pennywise, it's all very unpleasant to look at. But on a far more basic level, some of IT's horror also comes from its depiction of childhood. We all had stupid fears when we were kids, like the majority of the Losers Club, making their experiences with Pennywise more relatable, while more complicated kids like Beverly and Bill have lived very emotionally and physically troubled lives, and their fears are subsequently less simple. This makes IT a very relatable film, instead of being lazy, it treats both its characters and audience with respect, as well as the very mature and adult topics it tackles. Like I said previously, IT's a coming of age story, and when a film like this has as much depth as this one does, when it could so easily have been just a film about a killer clown, it's the making of a classic movie. That depth comes to a head in IT's fantastic finale, as the Losers take Pennywise head on, the previous hour and a half of excellent character development gives the finale a lot of emotional weight, and subsequently emotional power the kids literally take on their fears, while the confrontation itself is very entertaining to watch. The film also wisely leaves itself open to a sequel, since this is only half of the story, but does so in a way that doesn't negate the emotional payoff of the finale, in fact it strengthens it, and doesn't insult you with a crappy final scare like a lot of other horror films these days. What else cannot be understated is the music, which is fantastic, but I'm not an expert in music, so all I can really say is that it's fantastic, and fits the film very nicely, even if the horror isn't as dominant as you'd expect, just listen to the track; Georgie, Meet Pennywise on YouTube, and you'll see what I mean, it goes almost for a fantasy vibe, and it's great. What I can talk about however is the directing, which is also god damned fantastic, the use of camera angles gives the entire film a fantastic haunted house type vibe, with great use of close ups in particular, various angled shots, and even Dutch shots, the film is great to look at from beginning to end, and that good directing gives you a good angle from which to observe the horror, to really capitalise on some of the fantastic imagery.
IT is a film I saw three times on its opening weekend, I know that's not saying much with me, but for whatever reason, and I think I know what it is, I loved this movie. It's characters are absolutely fantastic, with a great amount of emotional depth, it's villain is one of the best horror villains I've seen, Pennywise is unsettling, funny, and at times freaky as fuck, and seeing the Losers take him on and try to defeat him is really satisfying. IT's blend of adventure and horror is also excellent, with some genuinely frightening, white-knuckled moments of horror, and some brutal imagery, interspersed with some entertaining and fun Goonies style adventure, as the Losers try to get to the bottom of the mystery. IT also looks and sounds great and is filled with some gripping subtext that I can't wait to get into when the Blu Ray is out. It's one of my favourite films so far this year, if not my favourite, and I look forward to watching it again at the first chance I get, IT is absolutely a must watch.
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