Review By Jilian Cramb (Livonia, Michigan, US)
In King’s 1990 movie It the clown Pennywise was played by Tim Curry. He spoke very often, had a face that was extremely emotive and showed his expressions more so than 2017’s by Bill Skarsgard. Tim Curry’s voice was deep and frightening, confident and full of malicious intent. On the contrary, Skarsgard’s was high-pitched, child-like, and had the articulation and vocabulary skills of a child. The constant drooling was also a poor “addition” to his persona.
First of two FAIL’s, in my opinion, despite the improvements in special effects and “new look”. The first scene of 2017’s It was when Georgie took his boat, made by brother Bill Denbrough, out in the rain where he meets Pennywise at a storm sewer. In the original, the following scene was a funeral scene for Georgie, and it was said It “tore his arm right off”. 2017’s version shows the actual ripping off, plus dragging of him into the sewer. Immediately I was disappointed. Stephen King doesn’t do much gore, and leaves much to the imagination. However, the gore did not continue thankfully.
Young Bill Denbrough was originally played by the child actor who committed suicide in 2013, Jonathan Brandis, 2017’s is by a new actor Jaeden Lieberher who was in my opinion, one of the most disappointing facets of the film. Bill has a stutter, and Brandis pulled it off, for lack of a better word, than Lieberher.
However, Stan Uris (Wyatt Olef) and Eddie Kaspbrak’s (Jack Dylan Grazer) characters were much more comedic than in 1990’s. They were also more developed and the audience learned a bit more about Stan’s Jewish faith and Eddie’s over-protective mother, which added to 2017’s appeal.
The class-clown Richie Tozier (and professional comedian as an adult in the original) was played by well-known actor Seth Green. Any actor was likely not to “better” than Seth, but Finn Wolfard did hold his own.
Beverly Marsh, whose “hair is winter fire, January embers…” by Sophia Lillis, was not just picked-on in 2017, but bullied badly by school girls. Yet, refreshingly Lillis fought back. Even against her abusive father, and school custodian, Al Marsh (Stephen Bogaert). Stephen did justice to the original Al, Frank Turner. Lillis differed in so many was to 1990 Bev, Emily Perkins, that they were almost different girls. We will see if Chapter 2’s adult Beverly Marsh will be able to perform like Annette O’Toole.
Writer of the well-known poetry (to us King fans) written to Beverly, by Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor) in 2017 was by far the best portrayal of the original, played by Brandon Crane. A rising young actor to watch! Now, adult Ben Hanscom was originally played by the late John Ritter, which sets up the actor who will play Ben in Chapter 2, for failure.
Beethoven’s Fur Elise was THE Song in the original 1990 It, and gives me chills to this day. Second biggest FAIL of the 2017’s movie was changing that song.
Another “win”, per se, however was incorporating into a scene the fact that It returns every 27 years. For 2 reasons; 1) we are set up to know there will likely be a second movie, and 2) makes the release date of 2017 exactly 27 years after the original. Only adding to the fear, and disturbingly genius mind of Stephen King.
2017’s It disappointingly lacked a vital scene, that you may be looking forward to; the shower-scene with young Eddie Kaspbrak. My father, and movie-goer partner, sadly didn’t see how this would have been done with new special effects. Which, definitely contributed to the success of this film.
“They all float” – this saying is likening the dead, or “missing” children, to balloons. Something I somehow never put together before seeing It movie. One of the final scenes in 2017 shows children, tons of children, and Beverly Marsh at the bottom, floating in a trance, so to speak. As adults, in the 1990 original, we find the “missing” in an enormous spider web. That entire web/spider scene was one of the original’s biggest downfalls, due to poor special effects of 1990. So I was pleasantly surprised with this change.
Lastly, some small nuisances were eluded to, but, likely only caught by King Fans. “Beep, beep, Richie” was said only once, which may confuse new viewers. Also, it lacked any effect on me on a fear factor, with Skarsgard’s childish voice.
Written in blood, (yes, this scene was not skipped!), in Bev’s blood-covered bathroom, was “DIE IF YOU TRY” on the ceiling. Again, likely lost on new generations of viewers. Pennywise’s bone-chilling voice by Tim Curry gurgled in the background in the original 1990 film, as Bev tried to clean the blood. And, after finishing once, Curry’s eerie laugh bubbled up from the drain with fresh new blood; “You’ll die if you try… “
Overall it was different enough to stand on Its own, pun intended. But we will have to wait for Chapter 2 to find out…!
Rating: 4/5
“Shut Up Ritchie!”
Pennywise is back for another adaptation to terrorize kids whom he feeds on and audiences across the globe. IT 2017 was an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel which was directed by Andy Muschietti and music composed by Benjamin Wallfisch. The film roughly takes place around ’88 and ’89, but the film mostly focuses on the summer of 89. Pennywise is a shapeshifter that can basically turn into anything depending on the child’s fear because that’s what he eats off of. In this case your fear. Bill Skarsgard does an amazing job on his performance as Pennywise, he makes the audience wanting more for his jump scares on screen and the way he portrays Pennywise as an Demonic Figure that you can’t escape from. Not alone anyway.
Bill who is played by Jaeden Lieberher, still recovering from the loss of his younger brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) in which he goes into questioning if he is missing or dead? The other main protagonists are Beverly (Sophia Lillis), Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Richie (Finn Wolfhard), Stanley (Wyatt Oleff), Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), and Mike (Chosen Jacobs). They are all a part of the “loser’s club”, being targeted by the bullies and Pennywise. The bullies are Henry (Nicholas Hamilton), Patrick (Owen Teague), Belch (Jake Sim) and Victor (Logan Thompson). They each play their own significant role for a certain amount of time on screen especially, Henry.
Let’s just say Pennywise and Henry don’t play well with others. The most memorable moments in the film are the ones that actually count if its swearing an oath, arguing with your friends, building friendships, battling your enemies/fears, navigating your way through disgusting sewers and running away from Pennywise. Lets just all agree that nobody wants to “Float” because if you do go have an argument with smart mouth Ritchie that will probably last for hours. IT 2017 is another good adaptation Stephen King fans have been waiting for, it puts the horror genre back in place and is worth the 2 hours and 15 minutes it has for you with an amazing well picked out cast.
Rating: 5/5
IT (2017) is a great remake and well set from original story by Stephen King.
Seeing this movie in theatres seats were filled for a week night. Overall it was a creepy, and good October binge movie.
To begin with, the plot taking place in a small town Derry, starring seven high school kids working together. The story had well plotted history to back with evidence explaining where Pennywise came from and how he is there now. After Billy lost his little brother Georgy to Pennywise the dancing clown in the beginning of the movie; the kids started to search for him fighting, finding he only had tricks to scare them.
The characters Billy took more of a main roll since his brother was taken by the clown. He showed more drive to get rid of Pennywise. The characters playing the part, All the kids faced the clowns tricks and by the end of the movie found that believing in what is true and who their real friends were never let his tricks get to them. All characters were dramatic enough for the part and each worked with their parts well playing their parts.
Special effects in this movie were intense. With the paranormal, possessed, and abnormal movement of Pennywise brought the creepy distortion of the clown to life making it look real. The clowns tricks were done well with making the kids believe something that isn’t real; having the Jewish lady in the painting coming out chasing Stanley in the church and having a creepy, pale, and deformed face to put him right where Pennywise wants him.
Overall IT is a good movie to see in the fall for scares. First, it had creepy jump scares, humour (even though you might be looking for the funny part), the characters weren’t bad and played the drama part well, and the clown will stay in your thoughts because he was great for the creepy story.
Rating: 4/5
While the movie It as a good movie per se it was not all that scary. The plot was good, acting was good and cast were great. I had more laughs trying to predict what the kids were going to do. I had a couple ah ha moments when It showed up at Beverly’s apartment and welcomed the kids into the house. Henry faced It courageously trying to get justice for Georgie. The scariest part in my opinion was when Georgie’s arm was ripped off. I actually compared the original movie and found the earlier version scarier.
Rating: 3/5
This movie has a big lesson for people. It shows that sticking up for what you believe in, comradeship and perseverance pay off. And the good guys win in the end.
Rating: 5/5
IT is a movie directed by Andy Muschietti who previously directed the horror movie, MAMA. IT movie is based on Stephen Kings novel of the same name. the movie generated lots of buzz with it s trailers and were highly anticipated.
the movie tells the story of a group of the school friends who were haunted by a clown who is coming after them with the things they fear the most. the film starts with a boy went missing on a rainy day. Then after few years his brother Jaeden Liberher still believe that his brother is alive and in his summer break with his friend trying to find his brother and fighting with his deepest fears. The time of their holidays trying to find his brother who went missing with his group of the friend called losers and they get bullied more often.
The movie is quite intriguing from the start. It’s one of the most entertaining horror movie ever made. The whole cast gave a brilliant performance. Jaeden Lieberher gives an honest performance the way he stutters and shows the change of emotion seems very real. Finn Wolfhard the actor who was appeared in Netflix show stranger things delivered a stellar performance and makes u laugh every time he appears on the screen. The CGI work on Pennywise the clown is quite amazing.
The way they shot this movie looking like it’s being shot in 1990,s and looks quite beautiful. AND IT’s entertainment value makes it a must watch with stellar performances and beautiful story that keeps you interested till the end.
Rating: 4/5