I went to go see IT on opening night, so I was meaning to do this before now, but I thought it would be way too soon. But I’ve been seeing everyone, including people who normally don’t even cover movies, discussing this film.
I saw the original miniseries when I was a kid (If I reference that one in this review, I’ll refer to it as SKIT, for “Stephen King’s IT”, which is what it’s always been marketed as), and I think it may even be what made me afraid of clowns. Yes, like pretty much everyone, I’m afraid of clowns. That could be why I love this story so much. You watch/read horror to be scared. What better horror story than a killer clown?
So when I was maybe 14 or fifteen, I read the novel. It took me six months to read and is today by far the longest book I have ever read.
Obviously, SKIT is a classic, much like Carrie before it. And much like Carrie, I think the remake is superior to the original. But unlike the Carrie remake, I don’t think I’ll receive any backlash for this, because that’s pretty much what everyone else is saying. SKIT is a classic and still good, but it’s always been rather cheesy and corny. Doug Walker explains it better than I can.
This one, however, was not cheesy and/or corny. It was legitimately scary. There are funny moments, but this time they are intentionally funny parts. The film has been compared to Stranger Things, and I can definitely understand why. Not only because one of the child actors was actually in Stranger Things, but also because they fed into the nostalgia that the popular Netflix series started (well, at least the current trend).
Without giving away spoilers, they changed the story ever-so-slightly, enough to make me curious what they’re going to do for the sequel, when the kids are now adults. I’m very excited to see where this goes. Both the IT sequel and the future of Stephen King movies.
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