SMALLS FRIGHT FEST FLOATS WITH PENNYWISE: IT REVIEWED

It's not October yet, but sometimes the darkness frees itself early. That's right kiddies, it's that time of year again! Grow out your cobwebs, dig up a freshly buried corpse, terrorize y'alls neighborhoods, It's time for Fright Fest!

I figured there is no better way to start my Fright Fest this year than with a brand spankin' new Stephen King film, based upon one of his most beloved novels (That also just happens to be one of his best novels, and one of his thickest too at over 1,000 pages). That's right, Fright Fest commences with a visit from 'It'.  I have been looking forward to this film for quite some time, I even read the source material and watched the tv mini-series from the 90's to prepare (Some may see this newest iteration of the story as a re-make, but the fact remains that this is the very first time the 'It' story has been made for the big screen). Could 'It' hold up to or surpass my expectations?

In 'It', an ancient evil that prefers to take the form of a clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) is killing children in Derry, Maine. When Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) loses his younger brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) to Pennywise, he gathers his group of friends together to hunt down and put an end to Pennywise's terror once and for all.

The group of friends in 'It' collectively refer to themselves as The Losers Club. The members are Bill Denbrough, Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), and Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff). The young actors chosen for the leads are all great (With the standouts being Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, Finn Wolfhard, and Jaeden Lieberher). These are a group of kids that have met when each is just starting to go thru puberty (a big theme of the novel is the transition from child to adult, this is focused on a small bit here), and they find the strength they need in each other and eventually, themselves. They share a great deal of chemistry and work very well together. There are some moments of "child" acting, but each actor performs their roles pretty perfectly for the most part (Each of their characters and the way the actors perform them are very similar to the way their characters are in the novel). I was also relieved to see that Bill still had his stutter. It wasn't present in any of the ads, but it's an important part of Bill's character (to the point where one of his nicknames is Stuttering Bill). 'It' is most definitely a horror film, but it also has a coming-of-age tale woven into it's fabric.

Another character worth mention in 'It' is Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton), the bully who consistently taunts and threatens The Losers Club. Nicholas Hamilton nails his role pretty well, but we don't spend a lot of time with Bowers and his big finale is disappointing (Though somewhat accurate to the novel). Many have seen and fallen in love with the 3 hour tv miniseries version of 'It'. Unfortunately, while Tim Curry is endlessly delightful as Pennywise, the miniseries wasn't very faithful to its source material (For one, Richie isn't a coward in the novel). It got the bare-bones right, but not much else. Tim Curry's performance as Pennywise is definitely iconic....but I'd argue that Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise is much closer to the Pennywise found in the novel. There are still fun moments involving Pennywise here, but he is more feral, animalistic, and beastly than anything else. 'It' perfectly captures the powers and personality of Pennywise. Skarsgard is clearly relishing his role and manages to be very entertaining but still terrifying, freaky and creepy. I'd easily place his performance right next to Curry's.

 I also have to commend the film for is it's set design, specifically that of the sewers and the house on Neibolt Street. The sewers are a dark, creepy place that twists and turns (and it's where our grand finale takes place). The House on Neibolt Street is old, decrepit, dark, creepy and has a serious haunted mansion type vibe. The house on Neibolt didn't have much of a presence in the miniseries, but luckily 'It" rights this wrong (as it does many others) and Neibolt is featured prominently in the film. The cinematography by Chung-hoon Chung is superb as well.

I've seen many Stephen King films, and not all of them stuck particularly close to his novels. I was relieved to find how close 'It' stuck to the source material. I'd say 'It' is about 80% - 90% faithful to the source material, and is definitely one of the closest I've seen a film come to staying true to King's novels (There are moments where it felt like I was reading the book again). Some things are changed (Some are changed to be more generic or conventional. There were a few changes I found to be genuinely frustrating.) and others are left out, but it's never anything big or drastic. Some of the Pennywise scenes have been altered or changed from the novel (I'd say his scenes always wind up being effective, though), some iconic scenes from the novel are intensified, there are many references to things that are in the novel but don't really appear here, etc. I'd say that, besides 'Maximum Overdrive' (which Stephen King directed), 'It' may be the closest a theatrical film has gotten to being a true Stephen King movie.

'It' is by no means a perfect film. I loved the hell out of 'It', but 'It' does slip up in a few places. 'It' can be a bit generic or conventional at times, some parts feel a bit rushed or condensed, and some of the scares can border on being silly. That said, Andres Muschietti (director), Gary Dauberman (co-scriptwriter), Cary Fukunaga (co-scriptwriter) and Chase Palmer (co-scriptwriter) are clearly crazy about Stephen King and worked their butts off to ensure 'It' would do his horror epic justice. 'It' is scary, 'It' is creepy, 'It' is mad entertaining, 'I't will stay with you, and if you are at all a fan of horror or Stephen King, then 'It' is a must-see. I foresee 'It' becoming very well regarded and beloved. This could be one we end up talking about for years to come, in other words: A modern horror classic. BRING ON CHAPTER 2!

4.5 STARS