“It”: The eponymous being returns to terrorize

“It”, adapted from Stephen King’s classic novel, and the second of its kind after the 1990 miniseries “Stephen King’s It”, is a film that is scary, funny and emotional all at the same time.

The story revolves around a group of seven friends (Bill, Eddie, Ben, Beverly, Richie, Mike and Stan) who come together to stop a common enemy: the evil being known to them simply as “It”, who transforms into Its victims’ worst fears, this being, particularly for most of the duration of the film, Pennywise the Dancing Clown. This clown attracts children

with Its seemingly harmless appearance (with much emphasis on the word “seemingly”, since most will disagree about It seeming harmless), as well as their weakness towards their greatest fears, these being different to each of them.

The film is quite faithful to the novel, except for a few changes in time and characters, since the story unfolds in the year 1989 instead of 1958 (although this, of course, was done to set up the idea of a potential follow-up taking place sometime between 2016 and 2017, which would span roughly 27 years, the same amount of time it takes for the evil being to come back every time in the story after It disappears).

Directed by Andy Muschietti (best known for the horror film “Mama”) and starring Jaeden Lieberher (Bill), Bill Skarsgård (Stellan’s son and Alexander and Gustav’s brother, all of them actors as well), Sophia Lillis (Beverly) and Finn Wolfhard (Richie, best known as “Stranger Things”‘ Mike) , the film is made up of excellent cinematography, efficient use of choral music performed by children that both manages to terrorize and create a sense of innocence and childlike wonder at the same time, and powerhouse performances, particularly by Lillis (who strikes you as young Amy Adams mostly on uncanny resemblance alone, making her the perfect actress to be cast as the adult Beverly, should that part of the story be made, considering this version only focuses on the characters’ story as kids), Wolfhard as the comic relief, and Skarsgård, who gives a master class in acting in his role as the villainous and insane clown, with a performance that is absolutely terrifying but, much like the score, also seems to project childlike innocence.

The story goes through several changes in its characters, since even main characters such as Ben and Mike, both very important to the story, are reduced in regards to their importance to the film, while a character such as Eddie, in an effort to have him go head-to-head with Richie as the comic relief, is turned into an at-times insufferable and irritating one who is as much of a hypochondriac as his mother. This, along with special effects that sometimes (but only sometimes) make Pennywise look like any other movie monster instead of a truly horrifying one, and a shift in tone in the score more towards adventure instead of horror, are my only negative criticisms, and that is only nitpicking. In the end, I greatly enjoyed the film, just as I enjoyed the novel and the miniseries.