The film remake of Stephen King’s classic novel IT has been a popular discussion among many students at OHS. Steven King is a well-known novelist, famous for his horror and thriller books that have been made into movies like Pet Sematary, Misery, and The Shining. IT was released on Sept. 8. and prospective audiences have been pondering: “Is it even scary?”, “Is it worth the money?”, “Is it better than the first one?”
“The graphics were better and Pennywise was a lot scarier,” senior Hayden Sande said.
The 2017 IT film is directed by Andy Muschietti and produced by Roy Lee, Dan Line, Seth Grahame-Smith, David Katzenberg, and Barbara Muschietti. It is a remake of the 1990 version directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. This drama, horror, and thriller film is R rated and is two hours and 15 minutes long. The intended audiences for the movie are teenagers and young adults.
The story starts off in the town of Denny, Maine. Bill Denbrough, played by Jaeden Lieberher, is crafting a paper boat for his little brother Georgie, played by Jackson Robert Scott. It is pouring rain outside and there is a water stream flowing down the street. Georgie is really excited to sail his paper boat, so after they finish making it, Bill hands Georgie the boat and off goes Georgie to play with it in the street. Bill’s last words to his brother are,“Be careful.”
These two words released a chill amongst the crowd. The foreshadowing was superb and everyone knew what was about to happen… IT would happen.
Fast forward a year later and Bill has grown an unhealthy obsession investigating his brother’s disappearance. He is stealing maps of the sewer system to find all possible places Georgie could be. The story continues from there, focusing more on Pennywise the dancing clown, as he terrorizes the youth.
Sande said that he enjoyed the personal background stories of the characters facing the clown.
The actors within the film all played their roles perfectly. There was strong language in the film which was an odd element, especially since most of the characters ranged from 13-15 years old. Nevertheless, the actors had well-acted emotions and were very convincing for their age. It made them seem older than they actually were. Even the clown was outstanding and really sold himself as a psychotic demon tormenting the children in the town. Pennywise is played by Bill Skarsgård, an actor from Vällingby, Sweden.
“[ Bill Skarsgård] was a creepy and psychotic,” senior Luke Sladek said.
Overall, the film had impressive acting and film production; it was well-put together and followed a fluid sequence of events. I would give it a 8/10 rating since the acting was phenomenal, and it was interesting enough to keep the audience immersed in the film. Also, to me the clown wasn’t as scary as the original, but to some viewers if you don’t like clowns this movie is obviously not for you. Unless you want to torture yourself then go right ahead because it’s definitely worth the money.
