It (***)

I wondered if a person not scared of clowns would find this movie as inherently scary. It seems like our culture has been trained to assume clowns are "intrinsically evil" nowadays and as such, a movie about a killer monster donning white face paint already seems an assured hit. Indeed, IT has broken pre-sale records and seems to be the first hit of the Fall season. The movie rests on many strengths: a good cast, a fun script, and that nostalgia feel that we have come to love recently with shows like 'Stranger Things.'

The movie is part remake/part reimagining of the classic Steven King novel, a dense 1,000-page entry that treks a bunch of kids in a town called Derry as they investigate a killer clown, then come back 27 years later to continue the hunt. This film focuses on the first half, a bunch of kids dubbed "the Losers Club" in 1989 (moved from the original setting of the 1950's for a variety of reasons). The town is a midwest slice of nowhere in which kids ride their bikes in the summer and adults are rarely seen. In fact there are perhaps 2 or 3 adults throughout the entire film, most of whom are degenerates or criminals of some sort. I suppose this adds to the isolation felt by these children as they are picked off one by one.

The film opens with that iconic scene of a small boy named Georgie running down a rainy street in a yellow raincoat. At a gutter, he meets Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard), the most evil-looking thing you ever did see, and he slowly lures the boy into the storm drain where he feasts on young children and relishes in their fear. This introduction is perhaps the most eerie scene in the movie, establishing the horror and then setting up motivation for Georgie's older brother, a stuttering boy named Bill (Jaeden Lieberher). He and his gang of friends spend their summer plotting to find Georgie's body and perhaps discover why so many kids disappear in this town.

They are joined by a pretty girl, Beverly (Sophia Lillis) who has a reputation with boys in the town but tags along for the simple thrill of doing something worthwhile. The kids are faced with horrific images at every turn, whether it's a bloody sink or a painting come to life in all its abstract horror. The adults see nothing, but these children are in a constant state of attack.

The film works on the strength of Skarsgard's clown, a creepy performance that is as much about the silence as it is a physical menace. Likewise for the gang of boys (and girl). We laugh at their cursing and raunchy conversations much the way young boys might have discussed in high school. For every jump scare, there is a laugh to be found in the dialogue. The movie overall trends towards overkill, as scene after scene shows this clown jumping out of every nook and cranny. By the end of the film I wasn't scared so much as I was amazed these kids weren't used to it. There's a lot to be said for suspense and the buildup in horror movies. Sometimes silence is more scary than an actual monster. IT will have none of that. This is a constant barrage of blood, gore, and the like, and by the end of the film I was relieved to finally see it come to an end. The film works as a bit of nostalgia and works well as an adaptation of a classic King style. Other than that, it's far more effective as a character study than outright horror.