It's On

Enough people went to see the new film adaptation of Stephen King's It this weekend to break a few box office records. So at this point, my take on the movie might be be redundant. But in case you weren't with the crowds (or in case you care what I thought), here goes:

It towers among Stephen King's doorstop novels as one of the "doorstopiest" -- it's this and The Stand, pretty much. A group of seven kids, self-declared Losers, must come together to fight an ancient evil that nests in their tiny Maine town. Nostalgia has made famous the 1990 TV mini-series adaptation (which I watched at the time), praised widely and correctly for Tim Curry's great performance, pilloried widely and correctly for how the scariness/violence/profanity/etc. had to be toned down too much for broadcast television... and for a lame ending. (That said, this is one of the handful of King books I've read, and I found the author's ending lacking too.) This new It is a worthy effort that rights those wrongs.

A smart but simple decision was made in the adaptation. Where almost every other "franchise" starter seems to bungle things by failing to make one good movie as it chases the dream of sequels, It excises half the book entirely (the return to fight the monster as adults) leaving us with a complete and contained tale of tormented kids banding together to face down evil. This movie's story works whether a sequel follows or not... though you'd better believe we will get one after the box office success it has had.

There's a bit of a "throw everything at the wall" quality to all the ways the movie tries to scare, to a degree where you might argue that it has a numbing effect at some point. That said, each scare is realized with loving care, and the sheer saturation of them means you're going to find at least some scenes in the film effective. (You could even counter that the numbing effect, if you feel one, appropriately tracks the journey of the kids as they learn to stand up to their fears.)

Most effective is that the scares are not all of one type. There are moments of prolonged suspense, like the opening sequence at the sewer grate that you know isn't going to end well for poor Georgie. There are scenes that successfully leverage visual effects, like a nightmarish vision of a creepy emaciated painting come to life. There are scenes that hit you with jump scares, like a belching torrent of blood that gives The Shining a run for its money. There are even subtle scares inserted in ways the film is willing to let go unnoticed. (When Ben does his library research early in the movie, watch the librarian in the background!) Perhaps most effective of all are the scares that aren't strictly supernatural; "It" is only one source of terror for the kids of this film, with the sociopathic bullies and neglectful (or outright abusive) parents being even more relatable horrors.

The cast is wonderful. It's rare and hard to find a good child actor to carry a movie, and this film must do it many times over. I found Sophia Lillis the real standout as Beverly, the lone female among the Losers, though it's just as easy to praise Jaeden Lieberher as Bill or Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben. It's also great fun to see Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things as the foul-mouthed Ritchie.

Then, of course, there's Bill Skarsgård as the favorite face of "It," Pennywise the Dancing Clown. With the unenviable task of following Tim Curry, the one thing everyone liked about the mini-series, he carves out an altogether different performance that's just as memorable -- a more monstrous and feral take that's equally valid.

While I do wish that everyone who sees It would also/instead see the simply phenomenal Get Out, I can't begrudge It the success. It's a solid horror movie, and a good deal of fun. I give it a B+. If you're a fan of the genre and missed the opening weekend stampede, take the time in the weekends ahead to catch up.