It’s funny how the brain works. As I sat waiting for Andy Muschietti’s It to project onto the screen, I thought of what a disappointment it would be for the crowd if they had misconstrued the title – in for an unwelcome surprise as “I.T.”, the story of an ordinary Information Technology guy who struggles with work on a daily basis, popped up onscreen instead. Thankfully, that was not the case.
It is very much a two-pronged film; a coming of age dramedy and a horror flick, the former works extremely well, the latter falls more into the average range. Set in the late 1980s, the town of Derry, Maine (Port Hope, Ontario a perfect stand-in the for the quaint locale that holds multiple mysteries) has six times the national average when it comes to disappearances and murders.
It is in this setting that the most recent string of vanishings have occurred, holding the townspeople hostage in a collective horrific stupor. Following a band of tween misfits who call themselves ‘The Losers Club’, they are at that most awkward age, transitioning from child to young adult. Interested in everything, especially sex, but not being overly informed as to anything, their banter, comradery and slapstick humour is infectious. It is utterly clear that this is based on a Stephen King novel, and the closest parallel that comes to mind is another one of his novel’s adaptations, Stand By Me.
The leader of the gang is Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher), a brave stutterer who has lost his younger brother like so many others have lost loved ones; Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor) is the chubbiest of the group, a knowledgeable history lover and poet who offers quite a bit to the gang; Bev Marsh (Sophia Lillis) is the only girl, a gal ostracised by the popular elite for (supposedly) being a hussy; Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), their bespectacled friend, is a potty-mouthed trash-talker, motoring his way through every conversation had; Stan Uris (Wyatt Oleff) is closing in on his bar-mitzvah, though he is perhaps the farthest from adulthood – a chicken-hearted germaphobe who is wary of almost every situation; Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs) is an African-American home-schooled kid, the loner of the crew; and finally, Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), a sickly kid who is coddled by his eccentric mother. The bullies, known as The Bowers Gang, led by Henry (Nicholas Hamilton) also do an excellent job in developing realistic personas.
‘The Losers Club’ eventually discover that there is a creepy clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) stalking the children of Derry. Utilizing the underground sewers and secret tunnels to meander around as he looks for his next victim, they realize that they are the only ones who have discovered the secret. . . and the only ones who can stop the ghoulish monster before it is too late.
To return to the horror elements mentioned above, there is something to be said about less is more – which is not the direction It takes. Though Skarsgård is horrifying in the role, drooling as he preys on children’s worst fears (think Dementors in Harry Potter, the Ring Wraiths in The Lord of the Rings or the Island of Dreams in Narnia’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), he is seen too much, and many of the attacks are CGI oriented – feeling too fakey to be frightening. There are some truly spooky moments though, and many a jump scare that will keep you on your toes – classic horror locations only add to the terror. It helps that the varied music by Benjamin Wallfisch provides a spine-shivering edge to every scene (eerie child chants never hurt).
Very much a coming of age story, it returns to the core of the tale, the richly told evolution of these kids as they lose their innocense and enter the adult world. In many ways it is not the horrors of the clown that are the scariest, but rather the parents who are the real monsters (Eddie’s mother’s own deficiencies are something, yet it is Bev’s father, brought to vivid life by Stephen Bogaert, who takes the cake). It highlights the reality of the world that we do not truly understand up until making the transition to teenager and then adulthood – the fears that come with discovering our own mortality as well as those around us, and so many other things.
As to the original, I will let others speak to which is better, or whose Pennywise is scarier (Tim Curry did an equally creepy take on the clown), as it is this remake that I truly want to highlight.
Thriving thanks to its superlative young cast, intriguing story (surprisingly humorous, the novel was adapted by Chase Palmer, Gary Dauberman and Cary Fukunaga – the masterful director of the first season of True Detective) and decent horror elements, It is a worthwhile watch. Leaving off at the perfect place for its already hinted at sequel, it does not feel forced by the set up, fitting nicely within the children’s perspective on unity and strength in numbers. So, float off to see this horror flick, it is wise to spend your pennies.