Stephen King is not clowning around with classic horror remake blowing up big screens

Natalia Torres, Staff Writer

Many phenomenal movies have played in theatres so far this year and yet another one has surfaced. From the moment the trailers were released, fans of thriller movies and those who saw the original movie in the 1990’s were excited about this comeback.

The recreation of the movie “It”, inspired by the Stephen King novel, was introduced in theatres Friday, Sept. 8.

The story follows seven kids: Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff), Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), and Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor) in the small town of Derry, Maine. The town is cursed every 27 years by the presence of a shape-shifting demon that mysteriously terrorizes the town’s people.

The children each meet It in different scenarios and end up coming together as a group in an attempt to rid their town of the demonic creature that lurks in the sewers.

The monster is commonly seen as Pennywise the dancing clown (Bill Skarsgård) who is accompanied by his signature red balloon. Pennywise first appears in his encounter with Denbrough’s younger brother Georgie (Jackson Robert) who is the first child to go missing during It’s return.

A year later Bill is still trying to find his brother as other children go missing, and I admire his determination because the rest of his family seemed to accept that Georgie was gone, but Bill still had hope.

Throughout the film, Bill has an unwavering determination to defeat It, despite his fear and other characters’ lack of support. Overall, Bill was a fairly serious and mostly composed character who thought things through and noticed what others didn’t.

However, his little friend group was hilarious together. They are the epitome of immature youth and I love every single one of them. Their humor lightened the mood of the movie at even the most suspenseful moments.

These child actors were exceptional, in my opinion. They all seemed to fit well with their characters, and are definitely better matches for the story than an adult would be. In most movies and TV shows I’ve seen, adults play the role of teens, but I believe this group of kids did the job right.

My favorite character was Beverly Marsh because she seemed the strongest and most fearless of all of the kids, and she proved herself to be a powerful female leader. Not only was she haunted by It, but she had troubles at school and especially at home.

Beverly fought It when she felt the need. More than once she attacked It when it got too close to her or a friend and it always surprised me that she had the courage to lash back. Even though in many cases she must’ve been horrified, she always boldly stated she wasn’t afraid, and I believe that kept her alive.

I imagined myself in a few of the situations that the kids faced and how I would react. I know for a fact I’d be dead in many of the situations the kids were in.

One of my favorite scenes, that was also a part of the trailer, when Bill goes down into the flooded basement and sees his lost brother Georgie standing in the corner wearing the same yellow raincoat he wore when he went missing.

At first, Georgie looks fine; his face is still adorable and his voice remains innocent, until he says to Bill ‘If you come with me, you’ll float too.’ Over and over he says ‘You’ll float too’ until his voice raises to a scream and becomes more demonic as his face distorts into a rotting expression.

At this time, Bill is mortified of course, and Pennywise is rising out of the water next to Georgie. Pennywise runs towards Bill, and Bill has the common sense to run up the stairs out of the basement and slam the door behind him before Pennywise can reach him.

This scene freaked me out so much. I loved it. When Pennywise ran towards Bill, my entire body froze while I was watching, so I’m sure if I was in that situation I would’ve ended up floating too.

I’d say the movie overall was more suspenseful and funny than it was scary, but that’s perfectly fine in my opinion.

I admire King’s work and I think that the movie was well executed. Many horror movies today consist of cheap jumpscares and typical events, but “It” perfectly portrayed fear and humor all in one film.

I’d recommend this movie to anyone who wants to experience some excitement, fright, and suspense, but be put at ease with plenty of humor.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of thrillers, horror, or movies in general, but this movie exceeded my expectations tenfold and I’d love to watch it again.

Art by Callie Richards