IT (2017) Movie Review (Non Spoilers)

We all float down here....

Every 27 years, the creature arouses from its deep sleep to feed.  Much like myself with this movie review blog!

So what has kept me in the sewers all year and what has forced me to rise again?  Why, only my favorite story of all time! 

This review is intended for audiences who are not necessarily Stephen King fans or readers of the classic IT novel.  If you are here to read a review based solely on the quality of the movie ITself (pun intended) and not for any fan service, then this is for you!

King fans, and those who are looking for spoilers, never fear! A lot of thought and research has been put into a separate review for you! I PROMISE you the review is on its way!

"You'll float too..."

Now, onto the movie!

IT is a film about a creature who takes on the form of its victim's fears in order to feed.  The monster tends to stick with terrorizing children as they are more susceptible to fear and, therefore, make the best meals.  In 1989, several children come together through friendship, similar circumstances and issues to form a group who call themselves The Losers.  As they find they have common enemies, a fight for their lives (and the lives of everyone in their town of Derry) ensues.  

As a fan of the source material, I had to constantly remind myself throughout the film that I should be watching with the eyes and mentality of someone who is just looking for a good horror film and not King fan service. 

So what is "IT"?  Well I can tell you what it's not: this was NOT a horror movie. 

I don't say this with ill intent or malice.  I actually enjoyed the movie very much for what it was, which is NOT HORROR. 

I viewed a film back sometime in June or July this year called "Before I Wake," which I found to be grossly underrated and overlooked.  It completely fell below the radar of films and was cast aside.  It was billed as a "horror" but was not scary enough for audiences.  However, when I saw it, I immediately had to watch it again because not only did I enjoy it, but I had been prepared for a horror movie, which this was not!

Definitely recommended

Much like "IT," this film was falsely labeled.  "IT" is not a horror.  I do not say this because I laughed throughout almost the whole movie (which I did), or because there were no scary parts (which there were); I say it is not a horror because it is actually a dark fantasy adventure.

Recently, I looked up "Before I Wake" online and found a pleasant surprise: they had changed the genre from "horror' to 'fantasy/drama' which is EXACTLY what it is!

"What's the difference?" you ask?  A movie like 'The Conjuring" is horror.  It breathes horror from the moment it begins to the payoff at the end.  It is made to keep you on edge and gives you no hope of overcoming. The Conjuring consistently batters you through your eyes, ears and psyche, drumming dread and fear and hopelessness into your subconscious. It's claustrophobic and unyielding.  Even old school movies like Halloween have this element.  It's claustrophobic, it's unrelenting, you're hopeless and helpless because the killer kills EVERYONE. 

Now THIS is horror

Think of "IT" in the vein of a Guillermo Del Toro film.  Del Toro does not have a horror movie, he has a list of dark fantasy films with horror elements in them.  The focus is not on the horror, but on the story.  This is what "IT" is.

Pennwise, The Dancing Clown

The good thing about him is that he isn't overly done with CGI.  In this day and age where bad CGI villains and/or monsters reign supreme, Pennywise was done right by making Bill Skarsgård up with red and white paint and letting him loose; and boy does he deliver!  Yes, some aspects of him are computer generated and, aside from about three occasions that come to mind immediately, they were all wonderfully done but Skarsgård did his part in delivering the performance.

His creepy smile, sometimes calm and sometimes feral attitudes will keep you on your toes.  Sometimes he can be a little silly while trying to be scary, but remember that we are seeing him through the eyes of children.

Speaking of the kids, I must admit that the child actors were fantastic!  Every one of them played the characters to perfection and the movie did a wonderful job of giving them substance with their backgrounds and personal struggles and fears.  It helped to bring them to an Avengers-esque point where they all realized they needed to come together to defeat Pennywise.

Bill Denbrough

Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) is the leader of the Loser's Club.  He has a bad stutter and was the first of the Losers to be affected by the malignant entity by having his younger brother killed at the hands of it.  His unrelenting search for answers about his brother, along with his sense of personal responsibility to seek some sort of justice, put him and the Club right in the crosshairs of Pennywise.

Richie Tozier

Richie (Finn Wolfhard) is Bill's loudmouth, wise cracking politically incorrect buddy who uses humor as a defense mechanism.  Oddly, I can't remember an instance where he had an individual run in with the killer clown as his cohorts did. From the amazing Netflix show, "Stranger Things," this actor once again steals the spotlight with his believability and commitment to the role.  He is, by far, the scene stealer of this misfit group.

Eddie Kaspbrak

Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer) is a hypochondriac who has been nurtured to a fault by his single mother.  Despite being the smallest of the group, he has a lot of heart and has the most to say about their situations and how everyone can contract diseases from them.

Ben Hascom

Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor) is the lovable loser in the Losers club and maybe the most relatable these days.  He's the new kid who gets picked on relentlessly by the bullies because he's overweight, smaller and very smart.  Despite his role in the group, he happened to be my favorite of the bunch.  In a group of self proclaimed underdogs, Ben seemed to be the real underdog of the pack.

Mike Hanlon

Mike (Chosen Jacobs) is a kid with a tough background.  He's lost almost everything in life and had to grow up faster than all the other kids.  Unfortunately, he was not featured as much as the others so he felt more like a third wheel in the group because of how late he joined.

Stanley Uris

Stan (Wyatt Oleff) struggles with his beliefs.  His religious beliefs and his belief in the supernatural are both tested, and he seems to have difficulty grasping either one.  I believe he’s much more complicated than he’s portrayed in the film and you can see it brimming just below the surface of him throughout the film.

Beverly Marsh

Beverly (Sophia Lillis) is the only girl of the bunch, and she may just have the greatest of issues compared to the rest of the Loser's Club.  Dealing with abuse, bullying, growing into womanhood and having a less than stellar reputation in her entire town; there is a lot for her to fear and a lot for her to overcome.

Henry Bowers

Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton) is a tortured boy who grew up in an abusive home, like Beverly, but chooses to project that abuse onto the weaker and smaller children by terrorizing them.  Aside from Pennywise, Henry is the other driving force in uniting the Loser's Club as they all have a common enemy in him.

Overall thoughts:

As a film, “IT” delivers on almost every level.   It gives you some scares; it gives you great chemistry between all the actors across the board; it gives you laughs where appropriate.  As I mentioned before, however, the movie does fall victim to horror tropes such as: falling down when running away, jump scares (although there weren’t any false ones), people exploring scary places despite knowing something terribly wrong is happening, etc.…

But the negative aspects do not outweigh the positive, and I feel this movie will become a classic over time.  I loved how the movie took place in the 80s yet the makers did not feel the need to overload it with an abundance of cheesy 80s references and callbacks.  It felt organic.

The ending left it open for the anticipated sequel, but if the sequel is bad or scrapped for any reason, this film works wonderfully as a standalone. 

Highly recommended!

4 out of 5 stars

Thank you for reading and making this the success it is!  If there are any movies you'd like to see reviewed, feel free to email me at jayreviewsfilms@gmail.com.  

You can also come and like our page on Facebook where some shorter reviews that aren't posted on this blog go up along with information and trailers for upcoming movies.