It movie review

Director: Andy Muschietti
Running time: 135 minutes


Impressive, but it still managed to remind me of every other modern horror movie.

It is an adaptation of Stephen King's classic novel of the same title, I loved the novel, but to be honest I can't remember much of the mini series from the nineties, outside of a few scenes.

This adaptation is directed by Andy Muschietti (Mama) and the story has been brought forward to the late nineteen eighties from the source materials fifties. Set in the suburban, American town of Derry, where every twenty seven years a mysterious, shape shifting evil comes out from the sewers and preys on the children.

The main focus of the story is on a group of school misfits, better known as the losers club, who come together through a series of events. It is the performances of the children that really give the movie a rock solid foundation, their friendship is believable and shown wonderfully in each of the scenes they appear. Touching moments of them all together, along with comedic dialogue give the movie a lot of heart and character development.

They individually bring their own dimension and nuances to to the group, and for me they were the best part of the movie.

**

Bill Skarsgard's portrayal of Pennywise the clown is sinister and conniving, within a flash he can transform from an innocent man child to an intimidating, nightmarish psychopath. With his bunny teeth and less colourful make up, this version of Pennywise feels like an evil entity that happens to be dressed up like a circus clown, rather than Tim Curry's portrayal in the mini series, which looked like a weirdo dressed up in a borrowed clown costume.

It succeeds in creating a monster from something that exists to entertain children. Disguise is one of the best forms of horror and mystery, so Pennywise has his place in popular culture, much to the disappointment of real life clowns I'd imagine.

**

But Skarsgard's performance is somewhat let down by the moments in which the movie is trying to scare you. For all of its great use of creepy atmosphere and foreboding direction, it falls into the trap of overly using sound as a substitute for real tension. It's something that every modern horror movie appears to do these days.

There aren't too many cheap jump scares but moments when character's ought to be frightened or in peril, are drowned out by loud banging effects. Because of this nothing feels natural, it's just an unimaginative way of using sound effects to try and prod the audience into feeling scared.

Is the movie scary? Not really, I say that as someone who's never really found any horrors scary, but there are disturbing moments of gore that might unsettle certain people. Both of the supernatural and natural kind.

There are also a few clever moments when Pennywise frantically chases towards the camera in pursuit of his victims. It's only in these fleeting seconds that we feel the characters fear reflect onto ourselves, which is a shame.

It's also to the movie's credit that it was made for the sole purpose of an adult audience in mind, a bit of a rarity for modern horror movies.

**

It is an impressive horror movie overall, it was better than I had always expected, but it changed nothing from what we have already seen before. It's held together by the fantastic performances of its cast and a surprisingly human story. For me this is a definite recommendation, whether you are a horror fan or not.
 

Verdict: 3.5/5