I Watch Films: IT

Just to clarify: IT is the name of the doctor, not the monster he made.

No but seriously, this is a good horror film. It starts with child dismemberment and murder, so if that’s a thing for you, probably best to not watch. Mostly we get the adventures of some thirteen year old kids over the summer as they grow up, tangle with bullies, and try to deal with a mysterious sewer-dwelling clown who has been emerging every 27 years to steal children. Occasionally the adventures slip over from nostalgic strangeness into monstrous horror as the clown creates their deepest fears and manipulates reality.

The book (and to a lesser extent the mini-series from the 90s) frame the historical events within the 27-year-later time period. This film, which reveals at the end is IT Chapter 1 (SPOILERS), is solidly set in 1989. This is a strength for the movie as we do not know the stakes or how it must end. It may end up a weakness for Chapter 2, but I don’t need to worry about that for another year so that’s okay.

Watch This: For a cool horror film that does a pretty good job of keeping the special effects restrained so the real horror is people in the town, at least until the last twenty minutes.
Don’t Watch This: If children in danger does not work for you

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