Originally written September 15, 2017

God, this is a movie where it’s so hard to do a written review for because of the title. I’ll try to not use the word “it” unless referring to the title as often as possible. So, now for some history…It was originally a Stephen King novel. In 1990, It was adapted as a sort of movie, sort of miniseries. That adaptation is usually referred to as a movie, but either way, semantics. The point is, It has had a bit of a mixed following over the years. I know some people that say that It is one of their favorite horror movies ever, while others say that the movie/series wasn’t that good. Now, this It movie is a remake. I was originally under the impression that they were condensing the miniseries into one feature length movie, but as the end credits tell you, this is only Chapter One. Apparently a second part is already being made, but yeah, if you’re expecting the entire story in this movie, you’re not getting the full thing.

So, I have seen the original It as a very young child, but I was honestly too young to be able to recall any of the details aside from major moments. I also have never read the book, so this is technically my introduction to the story in a way. Basically, the simplest way of describing It is that it’s about a clown that hunts children. The story is definitely much deeper than this, but that’s the basic premise. So, a group of kids starts to see the clown, as well as other manifested phobias of theirs, and they decide that they need to join forces to go after him. The legend is that their town of Derry has a surge of kids go missing every 27 years, and so these kids want to break that chain. It honestly has a really compelling horror story that I found myself really invested in.

I’ve found in the past that if I watch a remake for a movie that I haven’t seen the original to, I wind up being more impressed by them than fans of the original are. However, interestingly enough, common consensus that I’ve read for It is that this remake seems to be being accepted as a better movie than the original, which doesn’t happen very often. So, this isn’t just bias when I say that It is a fantastic horror movie, one of the best of 2017 for sure. It’s strongest thing it has going for it is its story. I found the backstory in the movie to be fascinating, and it’s supported by a group of kids that are all really great. Seriously, I feel like it’s hard to find this many good child actors for one movie, but these kids knock it out of the park. They each have their own unique personalities to the point where even though there were seven main kids, I can vivdly remember the personalities of all of them. They carry the story so well, and it winds up being a lot of fun rooting for them to take down the clown.

Overall, It is just an awesome horror movie, plain and simple. This is one of those movies where even though I can’t recommend it well from personal experience, I feel like even if you’re a big fan of the original, you should really like this too. For newcomers, I definitely recommend it. It paces its scares really well and just has a deeply engaging story that kept me hooked throughout its entire runtime. If you’re a horror fan, I recommend not missing this.

4.5/5