It’s September 8th 2017 and Stephen King’s killer clown, Pennywise is back with a vengeance.
The story takes place in the sleepy town of Maine where Pennywise resides deep within the sewers. It is children who he preys on and it’s only the children who can only see him, which what makes him that much more dangerous. I mean, if your parents can’t protect you then who can?

In the 1987 version of the film the clown was played by actor, Tim Curry and he took on the role as a cartoon but with Bill Skarsgård efforts he plays the part as a monster trying to be a human, which is a hard thing to do. I mean, it’s hard for me to explain this but there’s a scene where Pennywise is laughing and he suddenly stops to stare into nothing as if he himself was frightened of showing any sort of emotion be it fake or otherwise.

Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) is a kid with a stammer (known to his teachers as stuttering Bill) who has to look after his little brother, Georgie and perhaps partly just to get rid of him, lets Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) play outside in the rain, sailing a paper boat down a rushing gutter. Just as the boat disappears down a drain, Georgie is surprised to see a clown standing down there in the darkness: this is the sinister red-balloon-wielding Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård), who asks him if he’d like his boat back? Just lean down into the darkness and take it! Falling for the clown’s charms, Georgie does as he is told and in the blink of an eye that’s the end of poor Georgie.

Haunted by what happened to his younger brother who was under his watch Bill sets out to find out what happened to poor Georgie. And I feel that his parents blame him for the disappearance of their child and so during the long summer days Bill is more or less left to his own devices. With having to deal with the local bullies and abusive parents as well as a murderous clown who says that frighten flesh taste better, the Losers Club have a lot of growing up to do. The only girl in the gang, Beverly is although it’s not shown in the film but it is implied that she is not only being hit by her father she’s also being sexually abused. Her father in her mind is much more scarier than the clown that lurks beneath the town. When she finally faces her fear, which is what the whole story is about, is when they can overcome IT in a final showdown.

Thoroughly enjoyed this adaption … it is true to Stephen King’s book. There is lovely character development. It has a Stand By Me feel in places. Funny and plenty of jumps and scares. “Masterful” is on point in my opinion! I’m by no means a fan of horror but I have read the book and seen the original version so I was just curious to see this adaptation, I’m glad I did. And the kids in this film were excellent.

I saw IT in Cineworld and you should too!

I’ve reviewed the book IT too, have a look here.