#for some reason i kept thinking this was directed by eli roth. not sure why

[echthr0s]

[letterboxd log 2024 | 18/?] ⪀ Clown, 2014; dir. Jon Watts

[thefilmjournal]

It (2017)

Directed by: Andy Muschietti

Written by: Chase Palmer & Cary Fukunaga

Starring: Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Sophia Lillis, Wyatt Oleff, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Chosen Jacobs, and Bill Skarsgård

Rated: R (violence/horror, bloody images, and language)

Many of you, I’m sure, are familiar with the movie’s storyline as this is based on the popular Stephen King novel. Though I think everyone may be more familiar with the TV series starring Tim Curry as Pennywise. I would like to point out that I have never seen the series. I’ve always wanted to.

The film is based in a town called Derry. The story follows seven children who are all considered outcasts at their school. They all eventually come together through their shared experiences with being bullied. Over the summer, kids start to go missing. One of the kids, Bill, has a brother named Georgie, and Georgie is one of the kids that goes missing. Everyone thinks he’s dead. Either way, Bill is set on finding him. 

Before I get into spoilers, I would like to say that I was not going to watch this movie. Initially, to me, Tim Curry’s Pennywise looked way scarier than Bill Skarsgård’s. Though, I’d also heard negative things from my mom (who loves horror) about the TV version. She said it wasn’t actually scary. She figured the movie would be similar to the TV show in that it would not necessarily be a horror movie in the way everyone expects it to be. The previews didn’t draw me in at first either. However, I ended up hearing really good things about the movie after its premiere and thought I should give it a shot. I’m always looking for a good horror movie. 

It far exceeded my expectations. Not only is it scary, it also has very light-hearted moments, and a couple of the kids kept me laughing throughout. Initially, I wasn’t sure how I felt about watching an almost all kid cast. For some reason, I wasn’t confident that they could deliver. That was totally ageist. They acted their butts off. I can’t believe I ever assumed their age would be a negative thing. They were very genuine with it. Everyone in this cast is so talented. 

Spoilers ahead! 

I have no idea how the Georgie scene in the Tim Curry version went, but wow, they just had to find the cutest little kid to kill in such a brutal way! I don’t think I am alone when I say I hate when bad things happen to children! (Changeling, anyone? That shit made me sick to my stomach.) I knew the whole time that he would get sucked down into the sewer from what I heard about the series, but I kept hope alive, for whatever reason, that he would get up and walk away. At some point during that sewer scene, the camera pans over to a woman on her porch nearby. So I thought, you know, we would maybe hear him die, not see it it happening! His arm gets bitten off, we watch him suffer, and he gets dragged down into the sewer with blood everywhere. I’m assuming the arm thing didn’t happen in the show because my mom, who I watched the movie with, seemed just as surprised by the fact that they would show that. 

Luckily, as I mentioned earlier, there were moments in the movie to balance out the horror. Undoubtedly, those were some of the audience’s favorite parts--Eddie and Richie’s banter! Eddie and his fanny packs, alone, were so great. He reminds me of a mini Eli Roth. Does anyone else see it? I hope he gets cast as grown-up Eddie in It Chapter Two.

I wanted to clap when freaking Henry died. Is that awful of me because he’s a kid? What an insanely messed up kid, unfortunately. You’d have to admit what a shame his living situation was. It seemed like his father molded that violent behavior. And I’m sorry, someone in the theater yelled, “Damn,” while Henry was falling down the well and I had to let out a laugh. 

By the way, did anyone feel like Henry had a bit of a Pennywise look going on himself? I mean, sure the killing, but his physical features! I’m sure that was coincidental, I just couldn’t help but be intrigued by that thought. 

It was interesting to learn that most of the parents were messed up. Those poor kids couldn’t catch a break. There was no better place to turn, really. Henry’s dad enjoys taunting his son, Beverly’s dad molests her (I strongly assume, anyway, or is at least highly weird with her), Eddie’s mom evidently brainwashed her son into believing he was ill, and Bill’s parents just seemed sort of absent. The one time we saw Bill’s mom, she was glued to her piano, and when we saw the dad, he was yelling at his young son saying that Georgie was dead. Harsh! He must have been suffering too, but he seemed to forget that Bill is a child. 

I heard from a friend that Will Poulter was originally set to play Pennywise with Cary Fukunaga attached as director. I think the parents played big parts in the kids’ fears and the horror they experienced, so I’m glad Andy Muschietti picked someone a little older. Will Poulter seems a little young for a Pennywise, in my opinion. I guess he could be more of a representation of the bullies versus their parents, but to make the parents that source of fear is much more interesting and less typical, in my mind. 

The movie had sweet moments too. I loved Ben's character and his crush on Beverly. Also, while we’re talking about Ben, why did he get sliced up so much in the movie? Jeez! The last time the group went to visit the well house I was joking to myself that Ben should have been wearing a chest of armor by that time. I thought the blood pact was a little crazy, though (and poor Ben, of course, got sliced for the last time in that moment). 

If it were up to me, this film would absolutely get an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The story reminded me a lot of A Nightmare on Elm Street (which I love). I appreciated that plug-in on the kiosk of the movie theater in Derry. I want to add that I also appreciated the comedic parts because they were not cheesy the way you would normally expect from a horror movie. It was genuinely funny. I was absolutely engrossed despite occasionally hiding behind a napkin or my hands. I cannot stop thinking about it.