Stephen King is indeed one of the most celebrated fiction-writers, whose work makes for a perfect screenplay for any movie, especially horror genre. While The Shining remains to be a cult in the genre, IT follows closely. So when the remake of Pennywise, the dancing clown's story, was announced, stakes were already high. The novel IT has always been a tough one to be adapted, owing to its long story and layers of characters. While the older version brought the fear of clown alive, along with the characters, the new one falls short in many ways.
For the beginners, the remake focuses just on the childhood part of the story and has renamed it as chapter one. The story spans roughly nine months in the roughneck township of Derry, Maine, beginning with the brutal murder of six-year-old Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott), with the introduction of a sinister figure calling itself Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgard), who sweet-talks him inch by inch toward his doom. The opening is effective because it has been recreated scene-by-scene from its predecessor. The rest of the film, however, struggles to craft another with similar impact.
A few months later, Georgie’s older brother Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) is the last one still holding futile hopes of finding him alive. Several other kids have since gone missing, and as school breaks for the summer, Bill enlists his clique of dorky buddies to help scout out the nearby streams for clues. His friends try their best to remain supportive, even though they're more interested in talking about girls and avoiding the torments of the town’s bully, Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton). The clan includes Richie (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), Stanley (Wyatt Oleff). Their self-named “the Losers Club," gradually grows to include Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), a shy new kid who spends his time in the library, and Mike (Chosen Jacobs), a home-schooled loner. The biggest disruption, however, comes with the addition of Beverly (Sophia Lillis), a supremely confident, tomboy eager to escape her abusive home life. Both Bill and Ben are quick to fall in love with her, and the film is sensitive to the tender awkwardness that ensues when between male-female friendships.
Director Andy Muschietti has converted the film into a mixed bag of different themes. Focusing entirely on the childhood-set portions of King’s book, it’s a collection of alternately terrifying, hallucinatory, and ludicrous nightmare imagery; a certain vibe Netflix's Stranger Things and Nightmare of Elm Street could easily be spotted. The film is a series of well-crafted yet ineffective suspense which promises to possess everything a horror fan would enjoy but in reality turns out otherwise. There's a certain hollowness that haunts the film just as surely as the titular monster haunts this the small town of Derry.
The film struggles to find a rhythm in the story, though already excruciatingly long, the film appears as a patchwork trying to sew the half narrative so that it appears whole while leaving a little gap for a supposed sequel. The character buildup is nice, and you get familiar with each and every one, a little too much. The strong cast keeps the spirit of the film high despite slow narrative which edges the line of boredom at times.
This does not mean the film does not give you goose bumps. There are few well-executed scenes, where, even if you are not afraid of a clown, your inside will churn and you'd be forced to close your eyes. A lot of gore and certain psychological play has always been a forte of King, who doesn't believe in cliche chills. The story touches upon various social evil from a child's perspective- from bullying to abuse and overprotective parents who keep them away from finding themselves. Another interesting aspect of the film is the placement of adults in the film. The film sees them missing when the entire action is taking place, and only appearing as either drunk, abusive or as villains. "Adults are the real monsters", and the movie sticks to King's subtle ideology. Muschietti has plenty of ground left to cover when we see what kinds of adults these characters become if there comes a Chapter 2.
IT appears to be a half-baked adaptation that had a lot of ground to cover effectively, and thus fell short on major aspects. The scares are less, the thrill is nil, just the strong characters and patent psychological 'monsters' keep this horror-thriller afloat.
Rating: 2.5/5
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