Conlan Custard
Staff Reporter
You have to give the people what they want. The film adaptation based off the infamous Steven King novel hit theaters recently with some major hype behind it, and for good reason.
In this day and age, horror movies are a very hot topic at the moment and Hollywood is certainly capitalizing on this sizzling trend. Horror movie after horror movie is being pushed out to the mainstream media it seems, faster and in higher quantity than any other genre. Combined with the fact that there is a sense of security knowing the movie is a creation based off of a Stephen King classic, and all of the hysteria that clowns have been causing over the past year, IT became a highly anticipated feature film, one in which movie-goers across the country couldnt wait to feast their eyes on.
For those unfamiliar, the origin of the IT story goes (roughly of course) that during a rainstorm in the ominous town of Derry, Maine, a young boy named Georgie is chasing his paper boat through the streets of his neighborhood, when it falls into a storm drain. Desperate to get it back, he peers into the sewer to come face to face with IT, a demonic and evil entity, but better known as Pennywise the clown. IT persuades him to reach for his boat back, and swiftly abducts Georgie into the depths of the sewer system to store with his other victims. The story revolves around his brother, Billy, and his group of misfit friends who try to get to the bottom of his disappearance.
Early on, the film establishes its superb cinematography with shots of the gloomy sky and fierce rain, but is also able to switch gears quickly to a warm and cozy setting of a child’s bedroom. Every shot in the film seemed to display an element of extreme care and caution for the final outcome, a redeeming trait. The auditory experience was near flawless as every musical supplement added to the tension and seemed perfect for the scene it was placed in.
Additionally, the film is centrically based on the children of Derry and their performances dominate any others for most of the film. While I didn’t think any of them were stellar, they were all certainly solid and stayed in their lane so to speak, never venturing out of their area of expertise. The film also manages to be comical from start to finish with snide one-liners coming at every turn between the several teens.
In contrast to many lazily thrown together horror movies of the last decade, IT is able to separate itself in so many areas in terms of potent plot and actual fear itself. Many recent scary movies that have hit theaters have been entirely based upon a surprising event every once in awhile which jumpscares the audience, and that being all they have to offer. However, IT seems to redefine the fear that we know of from watching horror movies. It is by far leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.
Overall, IT is a great “Stand by Me” kind of film that combines elements of fear, suspense, comedy, and aesthetics to create one of the most enjoyable motion pictures of the year that will leave you begging for more.
