Review of It (2017) by Safa S — 20 Sep 2017

*A well-acted, believable horror movie that has its own suspense/horror defused by its own misplaced humor. IT's also a little too long.*.

Overall I thought the movie was very well-acted and well-shot (for the most part) but I think it failed in the jump-out-of-your-seat / heart-racing horror aspect. Sure a lot of the scenes had both disturbing ideas (pedophilia) and occurrences (eating human flesh, disfigured people), but disturbing notions don't really create an edge of your seat or suspenseful atmosphere (for me anyway).

The biggest problem I had was with its humor. The movie is actually pretty funny, so much so that the jokes easily rival some of the best comedies these days, but it was very often misplaced. Several times throughout, in the midst of a "horrific" scene, a character would make a wise-crack that has you laughing out loud, thus defusing the suspense/horror of the sequence. It's counterintuitive. A good horror movie keeps you jumping, your heart racing, and your butt clenched, it's not supposed to offer you laughter harboring the good feeling that accompanies it.

The film had great production value and never suffered from its use of special effects and CGI. Everything looked as real as you would expect to see in reality if this horrible thing were actually taking place. So the believability is intact, which is paramount.

I thought it was a tad too long. I found myself wanting to check my watch (never a good thing) and about 80% through I started thinking it was dragging. There are a lot of sequences where the characters build relationships (ultimately resulting in a gang--in a good way--at the end, essentially), which is not a bad thing, but I thought they lingered a little too long on many. I believe that's what adds to the long run time.

The three act structure is intact and apparent here, which is fine, but I thought the first act took a little too long, and at a certain point I was trying to figure out what the movie was trying to set up and where it would go. Fortunately, clarity came.

I thought the best part of the movie was Pennywise. The parts when he would interact with the characters disturbed me. I loved the way he spoke and what he said, especially in the beginning, when he's talking to a child. You know he's evil incarnate, but he's speaking as if he's concerned and wants to help. The deceitfulness is disturbing in it's own right, but added with a demonic clown, it's just messed up.

Overall I thought it was okay. I guess I would recommend it based on the disturbing creatures that show up throughout and how real those creatures look, but I wouldn't recommend it for someone who is looking to jump out of their seat.

I most likely won't watch it again.