Horror movies are dumb. Sorry horror fans, but the majority of them turn out to be a fest of screams being hurled at the screen. If it isn’t clear, I am not a big fan of horror movies. Haven’t seen too many. That’s not because I am scared of them (I didn’t inherit those genes). It is because 75% of what I have watched has left me as frustrated as most people who left Batman v. Superman. So many horror flicks are groups of people going into stupid places, following stupid sounds, and doing stupid things. Why? WHY! WHY?!
Apparently, kids are also stupid. IT is the first horror movie I have chosen to go see in the theaters in some years. In the first 30 minutes of the movie I began to regret my decision. Aside from an opening that (retrospectively) set a great tone, the first act of the movie was scene after scene of “what the ever-loving mother of carrot top looking clowns are you doing!!!!!!”. Adults totally derelict (that’s not a verb, is it?) their duties, teenagers are basically masochistic serial killers, and kids see things they know are dangerous and say “oooo pretty”. There is so much stupidity that can happen before a 7pm curfew that the only black people seen within a 10-mile radius decide that they should homeschool their child and then send that same child into the town they actively avoid.
What made this more confusing was that Pennywise wasn’t kept a secret from the main characters that long. The audience and the protagonists knew what was respectively haunting them fairly quickly. They knew what was coming, saw how scary it looked, and then thought it a good idea to either move toward it or stop and stare for 10, or 20, or 30 seconds. When they do finally decide to run, every single character became newborn baby giraffes.
Pennywise was wasting no time in screwing up everyone’s dreams when they got home. The IT of IT was also a conundrum in itself. Bill Skarsgård walked a very fine line between creepy and corny and just barely made it out on the right side. When the movie first introduces him in the opening, there’s a good possibility half the moviegoers reacted with an excited “OKAY!”, then a questioning “okaaay?”, then a dumbfounded “uh….ok”, then a “OH SHHHHHHKAYYYYYEEEEEE then” (I hope you all are hearing this the same way I am currently saying these out loud). But as the movie goes along, Pennywise finds a groove of weird, funny, and scary that makes his characterization intriguing instead of confusing (hence the retrospective comment above). When he is in a scene for more than a 5-second scare, Skarsgård shows off his ability to know when to turn on a hint of funny behind impending death in order to make him the right amount of screw you, you creepy somanbish (that means scary for all you Ru jargon novices out there).
The movie itself follows a similar path. The second act begins to bring the best scares of the movie. IT’s not the jump out at you and make you fall out of your chair scary (though there are a couple). IT’s the “this is creepy as hell” scary whose scenes last just long enough that your heart is racing and you ask “are you dead, are you dead, are you dead, are you gonna die, what’s gonna happen?” They end just in time to confirm that this movie is creeeeeeeeeepy. Both the movie's tone and Pennywise will make your skin crawl like you feel his finger down the back of your neck while he whispers sweet nothings into your ear with his Barney the Dinosaur chain smoking 5 packs a day type of voice. Yet, I am not sure if that’s even the right way to describe his voice. It seemed like the director told Skarsgård to figure something out and Bill couldn’t stick with one intonation, then said F it. Again, screw you, you sonofabish!
The creep factor gave the movie a good psychological thriller vibe. However, what really made this a quality movie wasn’t its horror aspects. It was the heartfelt coming-of-age story of the Loser’s Club. For all the crap I gave stupid kids above, they grew on me over the 2 hours. The longer you are with them as a whole group, the more their comradery and charm make you truly care what happens to them. You LIKE them. The jokes that seemed corny at the beginning of the movie came to be refreshing and timely for the film's duration. The child actors (go look up their names, I am not writing them) seemed like they had been friends for years. In the first five minutes, their playing the dirty dozens about each other’s moms while understanding that a speech impediment is off limits. Only true friends can talk about their mother’s private parts while agreeing that making fun of a stutter crosses the line. In addition, each loser had their own distinctly unique personality which avoided cliché tropes and set up great contrasting chemistry.
These types of contrasts within the group highlight how important real character development was to the filmmakers. Rapid fire dialogue juxtaposed the aforementioned stammer. Character personas which could have easily fallen into one archetype are surprisingly different than what the audience expects. Characters you initially think are going to be pushovers end up having an inherent strength. The comic relief of the group gets a fleshed-out arc that quells early signs of being one-dimensional (though that one dimension was HILLAAAARIOUS). One or two members of the club individually lack depth, but as a group they create a rich dynamic that makes the ultimate “squad up” moment against Pennywise feel like a genuine necessity instead of stupid people doing stupid things (OF COURSE THEY GAVE THE BLACK KID THE GUN THOUGH!!!!).
In the end, the movie did leave me with a bunch of questions. Why are we floating? Why is this happening in this town? Why is Georgie the creepiest thing in the entire movie (seriously, he did a great job being absolutely unnerving). Hopefully these will be answered in chapter 2. Except Georgie. Don’t need to see or hear from Creepy McCreepyKid ever again. Still, there were more great things about this movie than not. I understand why horror fans are falling in love with IT. Acts two and three more than made up for the movie's early stumbles, so I am going to give IT 3 out of 5 midgets…holding red balloons.
That's a Chappelle's Show reference mixed with an IT reference. Go watch the Chappelle Show.