It: Losers Shine a Light in This Frightening and Dark Story

Left to right: Mike (Chosen Jacobs), Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), Bill (Jaeden Lieberher), Stan (Wyatt Oleff)
Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård),
Richie (Finn Wolfhard), Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Beverly (Sophia Lillis)

“Horror movies do not love death, as some have suggested; they love life. They do not celebrate deformity, but by dwelling on deformity they sing of health and energy. By showing us the miseries of the damned they help us rediscover the smaller joys of our own lives” 

-Stephen King

I didn’t grow up watching the original It mini-series but from the few clips I've seen and whether you find Tim Curry as the clown Pennywise scary, his performance is hauntingly memorable. Suffice it to say nostalgia won’t play a role here as it will with many who grew up with the first adaptation. Andres Muschietti the director of Mama with his screenplay team including Cary Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation) and Gary Dauberman (Annabelle: Creation) bring the second iteration of Stephen King’s It for a new generation.  

A group of kids known as the Losers Club investigate their hometown of Derry known for its mysterious disappearances, particularly with children. They are regularly picked on by ruthless bullies at school; the adults are no better who only leer in their direction and for some even from their own parents. The search leads them to a monstrous entity known as Pennywise the dancing clown who gleefully terrorizes them by bringing their worst nightmares to life. Where the book and mini-series took place in the fifties, this version is set in the eighties lending to a lot of Easter eggs from familiar boy bands, arcade games and movie posters.

It succeeds in terms story, characters, and scares especially Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. Terrifying does not even come close to describing his performance. He is The Joker, Scarecrow and Freddy Krueger all rolled into one. Not a good idea to see this if you have a phobia of clowns. If I had to rate the scares from one to ten, I'd give it an eleven. It's bone-chilling to the core without resorting to all out gore. That’s not to say aren’t any violent moments but there’s a level of restraint that prevents it from going into nauseating territory. This makes it alot scarier for the Losers Club who are the only one's that stand in the way of Pennywise's reign of terror.

One couldn’t have asked for a better cast and the kid actors knock it out of the park. There’s the leader Bill (Jaden Lieberher from St. Vincent) the main focus of the group having lost his younger brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) and coping with his disappearance. Ritchie (Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things) a foul mouth rascal, Stan (Wyatt Oleff from Guardians of the Galaxy) a neurotic Jewish kid, Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer) a hypochondriac, Michael (Chosen Jacobs) a home-school black kid, Beverly (Sophia Lillis) the resident tough girl and Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor) the overweight new kid who harbor's knowledge on Derry’s history.  

Not since The Orphanage, did I laugh, cry, and jump out of my seat more than once with a horror film. It is a reminder that when done right scary stories can be effective not just spooking audiences but delivering depth, emotion, and surprisingly some amount of heart; a rarity seen in the genre. Many Horror films go for the shock appeal but lack compelling characters and a decent script. One can view this movie with the same mentality but what makes It stand out are the likability of the characters and the driving force of their friendship. The bond they share is genuine and despite some juvenile activity you root for them that they'll make it out alive. Bill searches for answers but must confront his fears as they are physically projected by Pennywise; a journey that his friends also go through. A clever part from the script on the contrast. Even the bullies such as Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton) aren't show as one-dimensional jerks, with brief moments of humanity making it tragic when all that’s left of him is a sadistic warped mind. The gripes are a few, another bully is introduced early on and appears to play a part in the story only to disappear in the end; maybe the sequel will dedicate more time to said character. The whole population of Derry when it comes to the adults has a depressing and unpleasant vibe that I don't remember one nice grown-up. You think they know what's going on but it's never explored. Again if a sequel is made, this better be touched upon.

I see It as a story of facing the boogeyman whether real or imaginary, you don’t have to face alone. Amidst the ghastly and ugliness that the characters endure makes the end result  uplifting. For someone who is a fraidy-cat with this type of material, I didn't expect to read so much into it (No pun intended). Not bad for a film with a demented dancing clown.