Very rarely does a movie scare us with its cheesy monsters, self-closing doors, or unrealistic blood splatters; Andy Muschietti’s remake of “It” is no exception, and yet I still remember sitting at the edge of my seat with a lump hanging in my throat. Indeed, it was not the rough CGI filmmakers painted over Bill Skarsgård’s otherwise decent portrayal of Pennywise the clown or the red dyed water soaking poor Beverly Marsh to the bone, but the reality behind Pennywise’s delusions had me hoping and praying these poor kids would get out there alive.
In “It” each monster is specially tailored to the biggest fear of the child. As the film unfolds, you see why this is their biggest fear, and that for some of the children, when the delusion is over, the nightmare is still real. This ensured the suspense felt during the high horror scenes never actually left during the more mundane moments.
That is not to say Mushietti should not be critiqued for his heavy use of CGI. Even if I was still scared from the suspense of it all, the experience would have been more enjoyable if the suspense was not cut by a 40-foot clown crawling out of a projector like something out of a cheap amusement park ride.
The children were also a major part of my enjoyment. All seven of the child actors shined like no other child actor has shined before. Some of them already had experience in the horror genre, like Finn Wolfhard, who got his start on Netflix’s “Stranger Things”. The realistic script helped as well, portraying them as the f-bomb throwing, puberty ridden children real teenagers are.
Beverly’s character turned out to be a pleasant surprise. While in the original she often reduced to a crying damsel, Beverly took charge in many of the scenes, even being the first to seriously wound Pennywise. This was undercut by my disappointment of Mike Hanlo, the only person of color in the group, almost completely cut. I wonder how they are going to handle him in the future installment, as he plays a crucial role in the second part of the story.
All in all, the movie felt more like a tear jerking coming of age story rather than a horror film, but honestly deep down that is what Stephen King’s “It” truly is.