Holy Sheet, IT Was Horrifyingly Good!
Holy Sheet, IT Was Horrifyingly Good!
I want to start off by reminding you that I am not a fan of horror films. Give me an H.P. Lovecraft novel and I’ll read it and re read it a billion times but I just die when it comes to watching scary 
things come alive on screen. I have never seen any of the classics and especially not the original IT film. I had heard it was fantastic and the book was even more so. When the IT remake was mentioned there was a huge amount of hype regarding the film and whether Bill Skarsgard, who plays the modern Pennywise, would live up to the iconic Tim Curry. Despite my various prayers, I was unfortunately assigned the press screening for It and so I manned up and dove in.
So how was IT? Let’s check it out!
Plot
In the small town of Derry in 80s there is an alarming amount of children that go missing. One of which happens it be the younger brother of Billy who spends his summer with his friends searching the town for his brother no matter the odds. Along the way they can not help but notice unnatural events take place no matter where they go and end up joining together with others who want to find the cause. Little do they know that the thing that torments the young in the small town is a being of incredible power and terror.
I absolutely loved the story of IT as it felt fresh from all of the other horror films I have seen recently, which, I know will sound silly because the tale of IT is practically an American classic. Every character and their motivations came from their flawed upbringing which then influenced their reactions to certain events.
Action
In IT every one suffers and pays the price for victory. Whether it is emotionally, physically, or in regards to their reputation. With the main characters being children you can imagine the surprise of the audience to witness they receive lacerations, beatings, and various other injuries from both man and monster alike. They held almost nothing back in this film to ensure the audience knew that they could not predict what would be around the next corner.
What surprised me the most in this film was that I did not fear Pennywise as much as I feared other normal characters. Although Pennywise could reveal your darkest fear and then devour your soul, it was harder to witness the abuse from a neighborhood bully while people drive by or a young girl suffering from the abuse of a parent with no help from anyone. These are horrors that are far too real and are allowed to occur that only adds to the terror of the main character’s situation.
Horror
While most modern films rely on jump scares to spark a reaction from the viewer, IT has plenty of scenes that are terrible and cringe worthy but the camera lingers to show the victim suffer hopelessly. They invoke terror by building tension, creating assumptions, and then acting on those thoughts in full detail before going even further than your imagination could. I found myself not snapping my face away as I did in Annabelle Creation but instead watched even though every fiber of my being urged me to look away. My heart raced as I watched Pennywise torment the characters with headless corpses, charred bodies, zombies, and so much more.
The cinematography for many scenes were so crisp as they had that uneasy element of shooting a character at an awkward angle that would instill a sense of unease in the viewer. But one of the best scenes would have to be the opening scene where Pennywise and Georgie meet. The boy talks with the clown in the gutter about their names, the circus, and more but all the way Pennywise is drooling and there is no major attempt focus on this, it is a subtle touch that is noticed before the scene switches. Every second that passed only increased in tension until finally Pennywise shut down completely and went silent before he struck. In those few heartbeats of silence I found myself captivated, on the edge of my seat, and unable to breathe as I had to know what followed next. That is incredible film making.
I applaud the director and crew for making such a fantastic film as no one in the audience could deny that this film was incredible!
Acting
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The child actors and Pennywise were the focal point of this film and every single actor did a tremendous job in their role. I was most surprised to watch Finn Wolfhard who played Richie, act not as a kindhearted leader who considered the well beings of everyone as his previous character of Mike in Stranger Things. He was the jokster of the group who made lewd comments the entire film. Jaeden Lieberher played Billy who is the main character of IT did a fantastic job of being a leader and having to balance the safety of his friends with achieving his goals. In the film he has a stutter which was a fantastic addition that made his persona unique because when he would get worked up he would lose the stutter or it would get worse if tensions were high.Â
Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd takes the cake for playing Pennywise and doing an incredible job in tormenting children. Many feared that his voice would not match the audible chocolate that is Tim Curry but he made this voice unique by always bordering playful before plummeting into chaos as his voice would peak and sink at various points. I get chills just thinking about the mix of hearing his line s and watching him act.Â
Overall
The film was fantastic in so many ways that even I, a non fan of horror who gets spooked at every little thing, can appreciate IT so much. If you are a fan of the horror genre I highly recommend that you run to go see this film! It is a masterpiece and you will come to love having your heart feel as though it is going to burst from your chest. Be sure to check out more information here!
IT
Pros
- Fantastic Scenes
- Great Camera Work
- Original Scares
- Incredible Acting
- Every Suffers
Cons
- Chubby Kid Probably Should Have Died
Chicano | Fighting/Writing for Diversity | DM since 08 | Anime Lover | Site: https://www.thegeeklyfe.com | info@thegeeklyfe.com | http://twitch.tv/that_deangelo | https://linktr.ee/deangelomurillo
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