The movie “It” is based on the 1986 Stephen King horror novel of the same name. If you didn’t have issues with clowns before, this movie might change that.
The opening scene is a young boy, Georgie, who was given a paper sailboat to play with by his older brother Bill. He brought it outside on a rainy day to watch it sail down the flowing water in the street. The water, and the boat along with it, run into a drain in the road. When Georgie goes to retrieve the boat, he sees a clown in the drain who introduces himself as “Pennywise the Dancing Clown.” Pennywise gains Georgie’s trust by making jokes, giving him balloons, and making it smell like a carnival. This is where I think I’d have let the paper boat go, but since it’s a horror story, Georgie makes a bad decision and is dragged into the sewer.
If that isn’t enough to give you insomnia for a while, the story continues. Months later, Bill (Georgie’s brother) thinks he has an idea of where his brother’s body might be. Bill and his friends go into the sewer system to find Georgie, but instead they find evidence of other bad things that have happened down there.
Around the same time, a quiet kid named Ben finds a book in the library about the history of the town, Deery, Maine. In the book he sees disturbing images of the early settlers and back to back tragedies the town has endured. Ben realizes there is a cycle to the events and that the common denominator is a clown.
Throughout the story there is a gang of hateful boys that torment and bully Bill and his friends, and Ben as well. Bill, Ben, and their friends team up together and form the “Loser’s gang” hoping to stay strong against the bullies. Over time, strange this start happening to the gang, as they are each confronted by Pennywise. I will spare you the details and gore that go along with the encounters. But, what it comes down to, is that “It” may not always be a clown; the form of “it” changes for each person and what they fear. As each character encounters Pennywise the Dancing Clown they have to face additional personal fears. One girl was being abused by her father, and when she almost kills him trying to escape, she is abducted by the clown. Then “it” pits the group of kids against each other. Some have made their fears reality and it is to their demise. Others are successful in changing the game. “It” survives on fears, but if they don’t show “it” their fears, it will die. The kids decide to fight back, making “It” afraid of the kids. In defense, “It” scampers off into a dark pit. The kids decide that if the clown appears again in 27 years (the time frame and cycle they figured out from the book), they will be ready.
My daughter Lauren loves horror movies (she did NOT get that from me), and when I asked her what she thought, she said “I would give it an 8.5/10. There are some sexual jokes made by the characters to keep it light. It was scary throughout the first part of the movie, but it slowly became predictable until the climax. It had a gooey middle (by gooey she meant mushy or romantic). Hello…. as fans of horror we are looking to be scared until the last minute.” Having said that, there are plenty of opportunities to grit your teeth, cover your face, and squeeze the armrest.
Movie times: click here
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Horror
Director: Andy Muschietti
Actors: Jaeden Lieberher, Bill Skarsgard, Finn Wolfhard
Running Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Rating: Rated R for content and disturbing scenes
