Stephen King’s It is creepy and unnerving, and an effective psychological horror

The adaptation works even if you’re not familiar with the source material…

It is already setting records. The horror adaptation broke the record for the best September opening weekend ever in the US with a $117 million launch, and will make enough to become the third largest opening weekend of 2017. A non-sequel horror is a hard thing to make into a hit, so this is no small feat. The great word of mouth around the film’s release and the 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes also certainly aren’t hurting its potential! The movie itself is definitely worth it too. This is an unsettling story of fear that has a great cast and some excellent visuals to enhance the tension, even if it feels like this is far from the most unpredictable take on some of these ideas, It definitely makes it clear there are some interesting themes on its mind.

Clowns are creepy

There’s no two ways about it, clowns are just scary. They sit squarely in the uncanny valley and seem precision-engineered to make you feel uncomfortable. It is all about the clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård), a demonic creature that feeds on the fear of children. From the very first scene, with his sadistic psychological manipulation and killing of a child, we know he means business. The story is set in the town of Derry, during a terrifying summer for the group of kids that makes up the core cast.

Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) struggles with his stutter, Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis) has got herself a bad reputation she didn’t earn, and Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor) is the new kid in town. All the kids are outsiders, and they’re picked on by the town’s bullies. The rest of the main characters are the sickly Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), who has an overbearing mother; Richie (Finn Wolfhard) a kid who relies on crass humour as a shield; homeschooled Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), who lost his parents in a fire, and Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff) a kid who is wracked with nerves and unprepared for his bar mitzvah. Pennywise spends much of the film attempting to divide them all and feast on their greatest fears.

Your worst fears?

One of the things that works really well about It is how it largely relies on individual fears that are specific to the characters. Pennywise torments the kids with visions of what they’re most afraid of, whether that’s something related to the abuse and judgement that Beverly has felt, Bill’s struggle with the loss of his younger brother Georgie, or Eddie’s fear of infection and disease. Many of these issues are quite unique to children, and it’s no surprise that the adults of Derry are shown in a poor light. They’ve largely been terrible at handling the town’s record-breaking number of missing kids, papering missing posters one over the other to erase the memory of more kids lost without explanation. Parental figures either also take a backseat or are shown to not have the interests of their children at heart. We see how the leader of the bullies Henry (Nicholas Hamilton) got to be the way he is and how that relates to his father’s cruel judgment, how Beverly’s father tries to violently assert his dominance over her, and how Eddie’s mother keeps her son taking pills for a non-existent illness.

The movie boasts a strong cast

One of the things you can expect everyone to be talking about is just how excellent this young cast is. All the kids are great in their roles, bringing a believability to this situation and reacting in ways that feel honest without ruining the tense atmosphere of the movie. Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, and Sophia Lillis deserve particular praise. Lieberher and Lillis are effectively the leading players, and Wolfhard’s line readings give the film some great opportunities for comic relief. Skarsgård is also incredible as the deeply disconcerting Pennywise, a horror monster that can flip between being amusing, psychotic and suddenly brutal at a moment’s notice. Making that balance work is a big achievement that both the film and Skarsgård should be recognised for pulling off. It might not necessarily be the most scary of the most gory film you’ll find, but it does work hard to make things unsettling and is highly effective.

Visually, this film is also clever and inventive in how it handles jump scares and scenes with sustained tension. There are a fair few alarming moments, and it’s interesting to see when the film chooses to conceal the revelation of Pennywise or just have him out there in the open. Either way, every appearance of the clown is effective at raising the stakes. Director Andy Muschietti has filled It with memorable images and an exciting style that brings you back to the atmosphere of a small town summer in the ‘80s.

It isn’t over, too. The film makes it clear that the monster returns to terrorise the town every 27 years, and that this is just the first part of the story. This well-designed horror is a wholly satisfying work of storytelling and suspense that shows off skilful filmmaking and strong acting from the talented cast.

Check out the trailer below:

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