Monsters thrive on fear. It’s remarkable how timeless this message is. This truism dates well before Stephen King ever typed his first short story, yet doesn’t make those words any less meaningful or the message any less poignant. People who are afraid make terrible choices. Look no further than our last election to confirm the monster who benefitted the most. What’s that? You voted for Trump for a reason other than fear? HA! Good luck with that one … and now we’re all paying. Luckily, today’s monster is fictional, yet the message is the same – It thrives on fear.
The political talk simply exists for real world relevance, something so many films miss. It, however, is more than artistic statement; this is one of the great horror films in movie history. People will be talking about the clown in It long after Stephen King has written his last word.
It is October of 1988 and the monsters in Derry, Maine come in three varieties:
- Supernatural – a shapeshifting, mind-reading, carnivorous, scary AF circus clown with an insatiable appetite for children.
- Human – parental and peer bullies who pass along the pain perhaps only to remind themselves they’re not at the tail end of the bully chain.
- Metaphorical – a general town blasé that treats the real, physical monsters as “none of my business,” essentially forcing the children to act on their own.
Pennywise the clown (Bill Skarsgård) gets the movie deal, but the other monsters are just as lethal in their own way. The townspeople in most horror films with a supernatural foe take the attitude of: “Yeah, it’s bad. We’d love to fight it if we could. Whatchagonnado?” Derry folks completely look the other way. Your child getting knifed or eaten is just part of Derry life. I can’t tell if this attitude makes the commonfolk more- or less- accessible, but the attitude does add a layer of realism to the tale.
Using a storm drain as a lair, Pennywise claims a small child before the title comes up. It is not clear yet that the evil clown deliberately targets the weakest or most isolated members of the herd. By the following summer, however, seven distinct children, all “losers,” are singled-out and taunted by their worst fears. Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) is confronted by the brother he lost to the storm drain; Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor) is attacked by a headless library patron; Beverly (Sophia Lillis) is chased by a “Charles in Charge” re-run. Nah, I’m just kidding; her newly cut hair grabs her from the drain and then spews a geyser of blood into her bathroom. Don’t worry; it’s worse than it sounds.
I did mention this was a freaking terrifying movie, right? No? Consider yourself warned.
As if their lives weren’t perfect already, the kids are bullied by a group of toughs left over from Stand by Me. Like the clown’s period terror, they got their second wind years later as well. Oh and Beverly is almost certainly being sexually abused by her single-parent father. Monsters. Monsters all.
There’s a Spielbergian feel to It – similar to the one in Super 8. The tweens have lives, thoughts, feelings, biases, jealousies, weaknesses. It takes a special script to get kids right because you just know most are not going to do it with 
superlative acting. Throughout the horror of each child encountering something truly terrifying, I wanted them to band together, to fight, to rally as a group. This is the power of great film – to present something hideous, something cruel and ask you not to be repulsed but instead feel hope. I know these guys can do it if they just don’t give up on one another.
It is destined to become the iconic film of 2017. Well, It and Wonder Woman. No matter; you’re not going to confuse the one for the other. They both have (successful) sequels lined up already and will make news far beyond initial release. Does this mean bigger things for the players? Maybe. Maybe not. You know how this works … did Jurassic Park make a star of Joseph Mazzello … or even Sam Neill for that matter? No? Still … name association with a $1 Billion film can’t hurt, right? Jaeden Lieberher has already put together a decent résumé; yet his depiction of stuttering leader Bill is impressive by itself. As is this tale, script, and film. I don’t know about you, but It is what I go to movies for.
♪Don’t want you maiming anymore
Don’t want your evil that’s for sure
I died last year
In this here town
Scare he goes
That’s Derry’s clown
He can crawl up on the wall
With an air so spectral
And when you try to flee the school
He becomes an ugly ghoul
He’s not a man at all
Don’t want you killing anymore
There’s not but rot at your core
It’s not my fear
That makes me frown
Just need this show
To leave my town♫
Rated R, 135 Minutes
Director: Andy Muschietti
Writer: Chase Palmer & Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman
Genre: Pants-shitting
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: If you can watch horror, this is the horror to watch
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Material might not be suitable for all audiences
♪ Parody Inspired by “Cathy’s Clown”
