We all have something to fear. From spiders to sharks to heights, there’s always that one thing that people just can’t stand. This is exactly what seven young outcasts in Derry, Maine, encountered in this year’s biggest horror movie, It.
The main antagonist of the movie is Pennywise the Dancing Clown, played by Swedish actor Bill Skarsgard, who terrorizes the small town in search for his main food source, children’s fear. However, contrary to popular belief, Pennywise isn’t a human clown at all, rather a shape-shifting alien who takes the form of your greatest fear. Although this aspect of Its mythology isn’t a secret, the bombardment of advertisements featuring the terrifying clown has kept paranoid moviegoers away from dropping by a screening. “I’m just too afraid of clowns,” junior Isabella Breton said. “I wouldn’t see that movie if my life depended on it.”
While the film is certainly frightening and director Andy Muschietti crafts some brilliantly tense scenes, the true heart of the movie revolves around the incredibly talented young cast and their individual personalities. The cast consists of seasoned actors such as Finn Wolfhard, who found his claim to fame in the wildly popular Netflix series, Stranger Things, as well as newer performers such as Jack Dylan Grazer, who plays the asthma-stricken Eddie. The dynamics amongst the kids, who refer to themselves as “The Losers Club,” bring a much-needed element of humor, innocence and youth to the film that would otherwise serve as your average, run-of-the-mill supernatural thriller. “While the suspense was a good part of the movie, the humor made it so much better and less scary to watch,” sophomore Freddie Rodgers said.
It is based off of the 1986 Stephen King novel of the same name as well as a miniseries that aired in 1990. The 2017 iteration, on the other hand, doesn’t dive into particular aspects of the original book and series including an entirely separate part of the narrative that follows the “Losers Club” as adults. Their future ventures will likely be the focus of It: Chapter Two which is set to hit theaters on Sept. 6, 2019. Unlike its 1986 and 1990 counterparts, It completely changes the tone of the story to fit today’s horror expectations for dark and gritty visuals and rather uncomfortable plot devices. These include shots of blood erupting from a bathroom sink drain to a young boy crawling across the rainy street missing his right arm. If it wasn’t obvious, the film is a rated R, with strong language, bloody imagery and overall nightmarish subject matter prominent throughout the movie.
Whether you’re a horror movie fan or not, It is a fun-filled, exhilarating thrill ride that will leave you screaming in fear just as much as you will be crying from laughter.
James Barberis
Arts Editor
