It (Review)

'It' is a horror adventure film which stars Jaeden Lieberher, Bill Skarsgård, Jeremy Ray Taylor and Sophia Lillis. This film is directed by Andy Muschietti.

Many years after the TV adaptation starring Tim Curry as the psychopathic clown, Stephen King's novel is returned to the screen with a wide theatrical release. The hype train is racing at full speed as the film is marketed as "One of the scariest films of all time!" with unsettling rumours of sightings of creepy clowns around the world to add to the anticipation of one of the most marketed horror films to be released. Of course the truth is, this isn't the scariest film of all time, not by a long shot. It's nowhere even near to being one of the scariest films of the year. I understand that fear is subjective, but the reality is that this is a mainstream film that has a big budget and a well known author for it's source material.

If your watching this for the scares then you may be disappointed. If you are freighted by what you have seen in the trailers then you will probably find the film just as frightening, but it doesn't to much to surprise. One of the positive aspects of this film is how it focuses on the children as the central characters, while it's been done before many times, it's refreshing to see a 2017 horror film which isn't filled with dumb teenagers or a dysfunctional family. The actors are all excellently cast and do a great job with the material. The group of kids have good chemistry together and have great confidence in their acting. The production of this film is impressive, from the production design, to the costumes and the sound mixing all the elements work together well with the story to add a scale of world building. The films characters have some depth to them, but I don't believe that they are fleshed out enough for the more emotionally focused scenes of the film. Despite the actors effects, I didn't feel much for most of the characters in this film, even when the film kept asking me to.

Overall 'It' is a serviceable adaptation of the King book and is a decent horror film, however it isn't all it's cracked up to be. Worth a watch if your in the mood, but it's no head-turner.

Rating: 6/10