This past Sunday I ventured out of the comfort of my home to see IT at 3:00 PM with my dad because I am a wimp and not a big fan of horror movies. Despite not being a big horror fan, the reviews for this movie (85% on Rotten Tomatoes) and the fact that Finn Wolfhard plays Richie brought me out to the Bishop Twin Theatre. I have to say, I was surprised by the depth this film provided! I was expecting a monster movie with a ton of jump scares, which IT definitely provided, but the film also had an amazing cast of characters, hilarious moments, and an overall interesting story line.

(Photo cred to IMDb.com)

Let’s start off with the horror aspect of IT. I was actually able to not be scared by any of the jump scares by keeping my entire body tensed throughout the film! I personally felt like IT was actually more of a thriller than a horror movie which I was perfectly okay with! Pennywise was extremely creepy and his body movements were so unnatural that I felt a genuine sense of unease whenever he was on screen, but I was never seized with pure terror for more than a second at a time whenever he jumped on screen. The horror in IT was definitely more creepy than terrifying, which I personally think worked really well. Pennywise feeds on his victim’s fears by becoming what they fear most and the psychological horror aspect balanced out the occasional gore in the film. If you’re not familiar with the trailer of IT then this will count as a spoiler so SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!! I was caught off guard by Georgie’s arm being ripped off and I’m actually glad they decided to show that violence. I’m surprised by how attached I was to Georgie considering he died within the first couple of minutes of the movie. Just seeing how evil Pennywise is and how Georgie tried desperately to crawl away and called out for his brother really pulled at my heartstrings and I don’t think his death would’ve been as impactful if the violence hadn’t been shown.

(Photo cred to theringer.com)

Now onto what really set this movie apart from other monster movies – the characters! IT has an amazing cast of characters that make up the Losers Club. I have to say that this band of misfits is what really drove the movie. I loved that these kids actually looked and acted like kids. There are tons of movie where pre-teens and teenagers are played by 20 year olds and I really appreciated the casting in this movie. My favorite characters would have to be Richie and Eddie. Richie is that one kid who makes inappropriate jokes at inappropriate times and I love him for it. Richie was able to make light of their scary situation at all the right times. Characters like Richie can easily become annoying, but somehow Richie’s constant your momma jokes never got on my nerves, mainly because Eddie was there to shut him up too. Eddie is like the mother of the group who tries to remind the group of how many diseases they could possibly be catching and helps to be the voice of reason, along with Stan. Now the only downfall of this group of characters is the fact that there’s seven of them, so I felt like some of the characters got left behind and didn’t get nearly as much development as the others. I felt I didn’t get to know Mike and Stan too well. I got a solid basis for all the rest of the gang, though. Bev was adventurous and brave, Ben was sweet and intelligent, Richie was hilarious and outgoing, Bill was kind and a leader, and Eddie was careful and loving. Asides from that, I think all the 5 main kids got great development by overcoming their fears and taking down Pennywise.

(Photo cred to IMDb.com)

I have to say one of my favorite scenes in this movie is when the kids defend themselves against their bullies by having the rock war. When Richie screamed “ROCK WAR!” and immediately got nailed by rock was one of the best scenes in cinematic history. The scenes with the gang provided a much needed break from Pennywise’s reign of terror. Overall, I rate this movie a solid 9/10 stars. Aside from the lack of development for Mike and Stan, this movie provided humor, creepiness, and had a lot of heart with the Losers Club. Let me know if you’ve seen IT and your personal thoughts. Also let me know if you’d like to see an article on a comparison between 2017 IT and 1990 IT. Thanks for reading!