← Back to Reviews
in
THE STORY
There has been quite the confusion about the rather uneven construction of this film adaption, constantly changing its style, director, writer and main actors. Finally, ‘IT’ emerges from the sewers of production hell, exactly 27 years after the television mini-series – precisely as the legend of the plot goes, and director Andrés Muschietti does not let things go quietly...
It is New Line Cinema who produces and Warner Bros. who distributes, so it certainly isn’t some small studio, who Muschietti has had to stand up to, in order to complete his own vision and realize 'IT' in the spirit that it truly deserves. Right from the opening scene it seems just as clear as blood in rain that ‘IT’ won’t hold much back for the imagination with this new imagining of the book. The people behind the movie clearly isn’t planning to spend two hours running around, screaming "gotcha” in between the shadows. In fact the film opens just as I had hoped, but not quite the way I had expected, as this mood–establishing and re-telling tribute piece testifies not only to its core audience, but drags every audience member deeper into the universe and pulls them straight into the dark and sadistic atmosphere, which clear-cut characterizes Pennywise the clown and the rest of 'IT' as it is envisioned today.
To everyone out there, who thought this would be just another "sophisticated shadow game", sharply cut after the outline of James Wan’s unofficial ‘lesson in horror chapter one’, you need to think twice. James Wan definitely knows his demons and how to dance with them, squeezing every inch of oxygen out of the audience through the use of shadows, lighting and sound. But after watching this dying formula being reanimated over and over again, it is refreshing to stumble upon a movie like 'IT', which turns the classic ghost approach on its head and lets the entire “scare scale” tumble down upon its audience, until they suffer from an atmosphere that is thicker than the blanket of the night. Andrés Muschietti’s 'IT' almost feel like a fatal crime done in broad daylight – it couldn’t care less about who is looking and what they might say – it, or ‘IT’, just hungers after being seen and heard, as well as simply scaring the living hell out of you along the way.
However, the film isn’t completely free of formulas and fascinating ideas that just never really float my balloon, so to speak. Put more clearly, the film isn’t perfect. 'IT' is anxious to make each scene a kind of crazy circus act of constantly circulating terror, where the fear ends up going a bit in circles after a while. Throughout the forty minutes to an hour of the film, the plot acts as some kind of "hoop of horror", which turns to every single protagonist in the movie and introduces them to IT and their worst fears, so that they can nod in agreement later in the movie about the experiences that they all seem to have had. It may be a bit monotonous in the long run, and 'IT' seems a bit fragmented, uneven, unfinished and confused in its plot structure, but luckily, hell breaks loose almost every time and the tone and pace of the film are pushed to towering heights and the scares moves faster and wilder than our pulse can keep up... a scene in a deserted and abandoned house is to be mentioned as one of the highlights of the film.
Andrés Muschietti treats the thrills as some a type of cinematic interval training, where the classic plot construction is cast to the side in favor of a plot curve that plays more in line with the pace of the audience's heartbeat. The scares are being delivered in rapid and raging segments, which break the taboos and former prejudices of a movie genre, respectively, and this is both the strength and the weakness of the film to some extent. Personally, I was dearly missing a tighter and more direction-determined script to keep things from floating away or lose steam, but there is definitely something different and refreshing about not caring about rules and norms and deliver the scares like on an assembly line – especially since IT can change appearance so often that it never becomes too tried or tiresome, so at least there is always that certain element of surprise inside the otherwise not-so-surprising setups – at any rate some have more success than others.
As mention, the presentation doesn’t falter much, but what binds the terror together on paper is often a passing obstacle that holds the movie back a bit from time to time, keeping it from functioning like a complete story, where story and characters shine in the same way as the carefully constructed cruelties. Admittedly, the expectations for this one were higher than usual, but I think it is acceptable when thinking of the fact that Andrés Muschietti and the rest of the team seem to have had ambitions that match our expectations. In addition to missing a straight and firm line through the story that the director can hold on to – so that the film stays close to its foundation up until we hit the climax where the balloon finally pops and the pressure slowly decreases – we also lack a script with better dialogue.
'IT' is another classic example of when adults try to write dialogue for children and younger generations. It becomes too forced, doesn’t fit or falls flat to the ground. There are certain jokes and funny remarks that do work, especially when combined with some of the scarier moments, but much of the humor and dialogue falls back into foul language and limp dick jokes, in an attempt to imitate the age group of the main characters in the movie. Dead serious here, I think the first ten minutes had at least two your-mother jokes and four penis references, and it seems neither natural nor necessary.
Fortunately, 'IT' is firm and fearless when it comes to the actual horror, and it dares and does where others don’t. At times the movie holds absolutely nothing back and you ask yourself the question "are they really doing that?" or "can they even do that?" ... Honestly, I don’t know, but "IT” does it no matter what and holds our complete attention in the matter of milliseconds. Hopefully, that is at least something it will be remembered for, because it, or ‘IT’, deserves it.
THE ACTING
The faces that make up the main characters of the movie are primarily a collection of new stars, all of which have been successful in recent years. 'IT' has, among others, Finn Wolfhard from 'Stranger Things' and Jaeden Lieberher from 'Midnight Special' and 'The Book of Henry'. All kids are doing a good job, some better than others, but sometimes their interaction and delivery may seem a bit forced. As mentioned earlier, the script is definitely part of the blame here, since the so-called youthful dialogue doesn’t come natural in the mouths of the young cast, even if it should have, and that’s quite a shame. The adult actors are few they do not have much screen time, but they are all very convincing.
But of course, the big act that everyone has been waiting for is when the clown takes control, with Swedish Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise! Personally, I was nervous, especially since the look was very different from the original and perhaps more like the horror of today, which has a thing for not leaving much up to the imagination. Some had even compared his voicepattern to that of Scooby-Doo, which of course would threaten to wreck the entire film...
I'm pleased to announce that Bill Skarsgård brings an intensity and unreasonable, uncontrollable madness to the character, which gives film the necessary energy and atmosphere. As with the shape of IT, his voice and speech pattern also changes during the film, depending on who, what and when he speaks, creating an uncertainty from the audience that makes it impossible to calculate his next move. He is unpredictable, unstable, unhinged and extremely eerie as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
Many had feared that Bill would just play Pennywise the so-called "easy way" and appear somoen who is 100% psychotic and crazy, but I think he instead seizes something internally devilish with his dedicated performance; going far deeper than just ugly faces and a broken voice pattern – both of which does indeed fit the inhuman concept of IT. In a way, his performance is like a clown in a box, where you wait for him to jump out, but it isn’t always that he does – yet you're still waiting for it and that's why it is extra efficient. He can be constantly felt, always, and when he is present, he is a nightmare in physical form ... a frightening and dreadful realization of the clown with the colossal cult status ... Pennywise is reborn.
THE VISUALS
Here 'IT' isn’t just shadowy joining of jump scares from begninning to end, fortunately. Together with the cinematographer, Chung-hoon Chung, Andrés Muschietti has created a film that doesn’t cover up the lurking anxiety or the many mutilations. The movie is a foul breath of fresh air for the genre, which always seem to be so dark and monotonous. 'IT' paints the town red in a refreshing take on the presentation of horror, in which Muschietti proves that one can easily create fear during daylight or any time a day. This also adds another layer to this unawareness, where you can no longer feel safe under the sun or in the public library, for example… IT can get you anywhere, any time of day and he does not stay in the shadows. I really liked how they presented the scares completely without cover-ups. A huge plus for the movie.
The computer-generated effects are also minimal and disregarding maybe two scenes, there is absolutely nothing to complain about here. There are lots of good old-fashioned and fully realized make-up and majestically filthy production design, which both impress and terrorizes you throughout the film.
THE SOUND
The film has a soundtrack with lots of mystery and magic that captures both the year, the youth and not least the yearning for staying eerie. The murderous intermediary between hovering mysticism and razor sharp terror constantly wonder in the tones of music, but only thunders forward when necessary. There is a good balance in the underplaying of music, and it is a soundtrack that understands that its purpose is to gently stroke the film; not choke it. It is often that it stays in the background and lets the atmosphere spread naturally, but isn’t shy either to aurally kill the audience when the movie truly calls it. Also, the movie contains a great multi-speaker Atmos-mix, which during some scenes, especially in the abandoned house, really closes in on you from every angle…
THE SHORT SUMMARY // 'IT' has created at least a small step towards a new standard in modern horror, even though it doesn’t come out the other side completely without flaws. The film takes more time with the characters than your typical horror and although it does many things differently, the script makes it feel like there is a checklist to be checked off, story-wise, before the movie can run smoothly. But when it works, it is hauntingly scary and Andrés Muschietti has created a movie that isn’t about being scared because of what hides in the dark, but for what hides in plain sight. The film loosens itself completely from its chains and pushes and plays with the audience until IT doesn’t have more tricks up its sleeve. It is a brave production, with everything from R-rated handling of G-related characters, to pedophilia, rape, incest, extreme bullying, absurd violence and full-blown terror! 'IT' tells and sells itself where others keep quiet, and this is what really keeps this movie floating ... like a red balloon in the wind ... so come and take it. If you dare.
MOVIEMEDITATION PRESENTS
– THE REVIEW OF IT –
________________________________
It comes to town every 27 years
________________________________
The horror-thriller 'IT' is based on Stephen King's novel of the same name that follows a group of children and their fight against evil. The year is 1988, and several children have disappeared without a trace in the village of Derry. When Bill's little brother Georgie disappears, he starts an idle quest to find answers. The 12-year-old boy and his friends, known as The Loser's Club, search the city thin until they end up in the sewers of the town, where Pennywise the clown awaits. The children experience a summer that will come back to haunt them forever and they must look their worst fears in the eyes as their mentality and friendship is put to the test.
________________________________
– THE REVIEW OF IT –
________________________________
It comes to town every 27 years
________________________________
The horror-thriller 'IT' is based on Stephen King's novel of the same name that follows a group of children and their fight against evil. The year is 1988, and several children have disappeared without a trace in the village of Derry. When Bill's little brother Georgie disappears, he starts an idle quest to find answers. The 12-year-old boy and his friends, known as The Loser's Club, search the city thin until they end up in the sewers of the town, where Pennywise the clown awaits. The children experience a summer that will come back to haunt them forever and they must look their worst fears in the eyes as their mentality and friendship is put to the test.
________________________________
THE STORY
There has been quite the confusion about the rather uneven construction of this film adaption, constantly changing its style, director, writer and main actors. Finally, ‘IT’ emerges from the sewers of production hell, exactly 27 years after the television mini-series – precisely as the legend of the plot goes, and director Andrés Muschietti does not let things go quietly...
It is New Line Cinema who produces and Warner Bros. who distributes, so it certainly isn’t some small studio, who Muschietti has had to stand up to, in order to complete his own vision and realize 'IT' in the spirit that it truly deserves. Right from the opening scene it seems just as clear as blood in rain that ‘IT’ won’t hold much back for the imagination with this new imagining of the book. The people behind the movie clearly isn’t planning to spend two hours running around, screaming "gotcha” in between the shadows. In fact the film opens just as I had hoped, but not quite the way I had expected, as this mood–establishing and re-telling tribute piece testifies not only to its core audience, but drags every audience member deeper into the universe and pulls them straight into the dark and sadistic atmosphere, which clear-cut characterizes Pennywise the clown and the rest of 'IT' as it is envisioned today.
To everyone out there, who thought this would be just another "sophisticated shadow game", sharply cut after the outline of James Wan’s unofficial ‘lesson in horror chapter one’, you need to think twice. James Wan definitely knows his demons and how to dance with them, squeezing every inch of oxygen out of the audience through the use of shadows, lighting and sound. But after watching this dying formula being reanimated over and over again, it is refreshing to stumble upon a movie like 'IT', which turns the classic ghost approach on its head and lets the entire “scare scale” tumble down upon its audience, until they suffer from an atmosphere that is thicker than the blanket of the night. Andrés Muschietti’s 'IT' almost feel like a fatal crime done in broad daylight – it couldn’t care less about who is looking and what they might say – it, or ‘IT’, just hungers after being seen and heard, as well as simply scaring the living hell out of you along the way.
However, the film isn’t completely free of formulas and fascinating ideas that just never really float my balloon, so to speak. Put more clearly, the film isn’t perfect. 'IT' is anxious to make each scene a kind of crazy circus act of constantly circulating terror, where the fear ends up going a bit in circles after a while. Throughout the forty minutes to an hour of the film, the plot acts as some kind of "hoop of horror", which turns to every single protagonist in the movie and introduces them to IT and their worst fears, so that they can nod in agreement later in the movie about the experiences that they all seem to have had. It may be a bit monotonous in the long run, and 'IT' seems a bit fragmented, uneven, unfinished and confused in its plot structure, but luckily, hell breaks loose almost every time and the tone and pace of the film are pushed to towering heights and the scares moves faster and wilder than our pulse can keep up... a scene in a deserted and abandoned house is to be mentioned as one of the highlights of the film.
Andrés Muschietti treats the thrills as some a type of cinematic interval training, where the classic plot construction is cast to the side in favor of a plot curve that plays more in line with the pace of the audience's heartbeat. The scares are being delivered in rapid and raging segments, which break the taboos and former prejudices of a movie genre, respectively, and this is both the strength and the weakness of the film to some extent. Personally, I was dearly missing a tighter and more direction-determined script to keep things from floating away or lose steam, but there is definitely something different and refreshing about not caring about rules and norms and deliver the scares like on an assembly line – especially since IT can change appearance so often that it never becomes too tried or tiresome, so at least there is always that certain element of surprise inside the otherwise not-so-surprising setups – at any rate some have more success than others.
As mention, the presentation doesn’t falter much, but what binds the terror together on paper is often a passing obstacle that holds the movie back a bit from time to time, keeping it from functioning like a complete story, where story and characters shine in the same way as the carefully constructed cruelties. Admittedly, the expectations for this one were higher than usual, but I think it is acceptable when thinking of the fact that Andrés Muschietti and the rest of the team seem to have had ambitions that match our expectations. In addition to missing a straight and firm line through the story that the director can hold on to – so that the film stays close to its foundation up until we hit the climax where the balloon finally pops and the pressure slowly decreases – we also lack a script with better dialogue.
'IT' is another classic example of when adults try to write dialogue for children and younger generations. It becomes too forced, doesn’t fit or falls flat to the ground. There are certain jokes and funny remarks that do work, especially when combined with some of the scarier moments, but much of the humor and dialogue falls back into foul language and limp dick jokes, in an attempt to imitate the age group of the main characters in the movie. Dead serious here, I think the first ten minutes had at least two your-mother jokes and four penis references, and it seems neither natural nor necessary.
Fortunately, 'IT' is firm and fearless when it comes to the actual horror, and it dares and does where others don’t. At times the movie holds absolutely nothing back and you ask yourself the question "are they really doing that?" or "can they even do that?" ... Honestly, I don’t know, but "IT” does it no matter what and holds our complete attention in the matter of milliseconds. Hopefully, that is at least something it will be remembered for, because it, or ‘IT’, deserves it.
THE ACTING
The faces that make up the main characters of the movie are primarily a collection of new stars, all of which have been successful in recent years. 'IT' has, among others, Finn Wolfhard from 'Stranger Things' and Jaeden Lieberher from 'Midnight Special' and 'The Book of Henry'. All kids are doing a good job, some better than others, but sometimes their interaction and delivery may seem a bit forced. As mentioned earlier, the script is definitely part of the blame here, since the so-called youthful dialogue doesn’t come natural in the mouths of the young cast, even if it should have, and that’s quite a shame. The adult actors are few they do not have much screen time, but they are all very convincing.
But of course, the big act that everyone has been waiting for is when the clown takes control, with Swedish Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise! Personally, I was nervous, especially since the look was very different from the original and perhaps more like the horror of today, which has a thing for not leaving much up to the imagination. Some had even compared his voicepattern to that of Scooby-Doo, which of course would threaten to wreck the entire film...
I'm pleased to announce that Bill Skarsgård brings an intensity and unreasonable, uncontrollable madness to the character, which gives film the necessary energy and atmosphere. As with the shape of IT, his voice and speech pattern also changes during the film, depending on who, what and when he speaks, creating an uncertainty from the audience that makes it impossible to calculate his next move. He is unpredictable, unstable, unhinged and extremely eerie as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
Many had feared that Bill would just play Pennywise the so-called "easy way" and appear somoen who is 100% psychotic and crazy, but I think he instead seizes something internally devilish with his dedicated performance; going far deeper than just ugly faces and a broken voice pattern – both of which does indeed fit the inhuman concept of IT. In a way, his performance is like a clown in a box, where you wait for him to jump out, but it isn’t always that he does – yet you're still waiting for it and that's why it is extra efficient. He can be constantly felt, always, and when he is present, he is a nightmare in physical form ... a frightening and dreadful realization of the clown with the colossal cult status ... Pennywise is reborn.
THE VISUALS
Here 'IT' isn’t just shadowy joining of jump scares from begninning to end, fortunately. Together with the cinematographer, Chung-hoon Chung, Andrés Muschietti has created a film that doesn’t cover up the lurking anxiety or the many mutilations. The movie is a foul breath of fresh air for the genre, which always seem to be so dark and monotonous. 'IT' paints the town red in a refreshing take on the presentation of horror, in which Muschietti proves that one can easily create fear during daylight or any time a day. This also adds another layer to this unawareness, where you can no longer feel safe under the sun or in the public library, for example… IT can get you anywhere, any time of day and he does not stay in the shadows. I really liked how they presented the scares completely without cover-ups. A huge plus for the movie.
The computer-generated effects are also minimal and disregarding maybe two scenes, there is absolutely nothing to complain about here. There are lots of good old-fashioned and fully realized make-up and majestically filthy production design, which both impress and terrorizes you throughout the film.
THE SOUND
The film has a soundtrack with lots of mystery and magic that captures both the year, the youth and not least the yearning for staying eerie. The murderous intermediary between hovering mysticism and razor sharp terror constantly wonder in the tones of music, but only thunders forward when necessary. There is a good balance in the underplaying of music, and it is a soundtrack that understands that its purpose is to gently stroke the film; not choke it. It is often that it stays in the background and lets the atmosphere spread naturally, but isn’t shy either to aurally kill the audience when the movie truly calls it. Also, the movie contains a great multi-speaker Atmos-mix, which during some scenes, especially in the abandoned house, really closes in on you from every angle…
THE SHORT SUMMARY // 'IT' has created at least a small step towards a new standard in modern horror, even though it doesn’t come out the other side completely without flaws. The film takes more time with the characters than your typical horror and although it does many things differently, the script makes it feel like there is a checklist to be checked off, story-wise, before the movie can run smoothly. But when it works, it is hauntingly scary and Andrés Muschietti has created a movie that isn’t about being scared because of what hides in the dark, but for what hides in plain sight. The film loosens itself completely from its chains and pushes and plays with the audience until IT doesn’t have more tricks up its sleeve. It is a brave production, with everything from R-rated handling of G-related characters, to pedophilia, rape, incest, extreme bullying, absurd violence and full-blown terror! 'IT' tells and sells itself where others keep quiet, and this is what really keeps this movie floating ... like a red balloon in the wind ... so come and take it. If you dare.
________________________________
Knock, knock. Who’s there? It... It who?
It’s been a hard day’s night at the cinema I can tell you...
________________________________
++
Knock, knock. Who’s there? It... It who?
It’s been a hard day’s night at the cinema I can tell you...
________________________________
++