STEPHEN KING'S IT

I'm going to review a Stephen King flick that many people are mixed about. Many were scared by the film, many found the film funny. Many thought it was a great adaptation of the Stephen King story, many thought it was poor. What do I think? This is...

  

A group of misfit kids live in a town haunted by an evil mutant that they call IT, which mostly takes the form of a killer Clown (Tim Curry) and uses the kids’ fears to make them become vulnerable to IT's powers. The group of kids, however, decide to kill the monster to avenge the lives of the many people that IT has killed and eaten over the centuries. The childhood sequences are shown in flashbacks, as each kid as an adult remembers their encounter with IT, which I think is done really well here. I like the transitions to the flashbacks; I like how its done throughout the films narrative; and above all, I like that the childhood sequences are the memories that each of the characters have as kids, making it an appropriate choice why to show the childhood sequences in flashbacks since part of the stories themes is nostalgia and facing your fears. Some people complain of how many flashbacks the film has, but in my opinion, I think it fits the film fine. Getting back to the plot, 30 years later IT has returned to Derry, and the kids now in their adulthood, reluctantly go back to Derry and finish the job.

 

The kids in the film are really great, fun, and likable characters, and the kids playing them fit their roles just right. Ok, it's not high class acting, compared to the kids in the Stephen King film "Stand By Me", but they still do a great job at making you care for them, and enjoy being with them whenever they're on screen. In fact, they're actually better the actors playing then the actors playing them as adults, which should be the other way around (Will get to that later). Like most films made at the time to have a group of kids, each of them have a characteristic so you can identify who is who. Bill is the kid that stutters; Ben is the fat kid; Beverly is the only girl in the group; Eddie is the kid with asthma; Richie (Played hilariously by Seth Green) is the over the top nerd of the group; Mike is the only black kid in the neighborhood; and Stan is the nervous kid in the group. There's also the typical bully who bullies the group named Henry, but remember in Stephen King's universe, his bullies are usually psychopaths. Just for the record, there are plenty of Stephen King cliches in this film that will annoy some people, but for me I don't mind it at all. Getting back to the kids, with the undeveloped bully aside, even though I do personally enjoy the actors performance; the kids in the film despite having characteristics to make them stand out as losers; just like in "The Sandlot" or "Stand By Me", they're still treated as regular kids, than just bland stereotypes, which is part of the reason why the kids are so likable and well acted.




Now let’s talk about the actors playing them as adults. Well, while the kids are better actors compared to the adult actors, I honestly don't think they were that awful. Don't get me wrong, it's not great acting! They can be over the top or hammy, especially with some of the lame dialogue that they're given; they can be very melodramatic at times like in a "Soap Opera"; hell, they even get maybe one or two corny moments. With that said, I still think they did a good job at making us believe that they are the kids grown up. Their behaviors that they had as kids that they still carry as adults is done accurately; their fears and trying to cope with it is done well; and when you see them think or talk about their youth it actually brings a nostalgia vibe of how we enjoyed them as kids. Again, the adult actors, aren't great, but I don't think they're that bad either.





IT, what do I think of IT. Well a group of people found Tim Curry's performance scary, others found him hilarious. However, even the people who were afraid of Curry as IT, now find him more hilarious then scary. What do I think; well I think he does a great job at being both scary and funny. He does have plenty of good scary moments like the shower room scene; his attack on Bill's kid brother Georgie; and his appearance in the photo album for example; but he has plenty of funny moments as well, even during those scary moments that I just mentioned. He's kind of like The Joker, he's scary and intimidating, but is tons of fun as well. The only factor of the villain that gets annoying or old, is when IT keeps telling people that they will float once he gets them, other than that I really enjoy Curry's performance. What I also love about this villain is that it can change into almost anything like a werewolf, a giant spider, a corpse, and heck even a mummy. I will admit this about IT changing into a mummy, as out of left field as it is; I still found IT creepy do from the atmosphere, and tone of the scene. However, how the kid escapes from IT still confuses me, and if anybody can clarify why IT stood back when the kid started shouting out the different names of birds, please tell me. That's another thing I should mention, the film at times doesn't make sense and even gets confusing at times. I mean, it's explained, but it still leaves you with questions. Still, with that said, I guess part of the reason is left for audiences to think for themselves, and usually the things that Stephen King writes are surreal, crazy, and out of the ordinary that don't usually make a whole lot of sense (Especially when transferred to film), and I guess if you go in knowing that this is a Stephen King film, you'll know what to expect.

Finally, the special effects in this film. Well, while being a film made for TV, chances are they're not going to be great, and my reaction is half of it’s good, and half of it's bad. As a whole, I admire the creativity that was put into the film's special effects, but they're still laughable when they're meant to be scary, instead of funny. I mean it's not like "King Kong", or "Godzilla", where you can see through the effects, but still find them to be great, creative, cool, and groundbreaking for its time. I mean, who found the Clown's head turning into an angry dog scary; who thought the Stop-Motion actually looked real; who thought the giant mechanical spider was horrifying? These effects make the film campier than it already is. If it was played as a dark horror comedy, like the "Evil Dead" films, then these effects would be acceptable, but since it’s played out for scares, then it fails. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good ones that deliver some great scares, along with the film's music, writing and atmosphere, but for the majority, you'll most likely be thinking these effects would be more suitable for a horror comedy, than in a Stephen King flick.

While IT is flawed, I still think it's a good, if not great Stephen King adaptation. The acting is not great, but it's decent enough to get you through the film, especially from Curry and the kids. The story, while being confusing, not making sense at points, and carrying the Stephen King cliches is still a really creative story and premise. Tim Curry as IT, is both fun and scary as this magical killer clown, and even if you don't find him scary, he still gives a fun performance. The effects can be laughable at many occasions than scary especially during the climax, but the chilling music, unsettling atmosphere, the writing, and scares and effects that do work, make you excuse the bad stuff. It's a campy Stephen King horror flick and is not for everybody, but I think it's still one of King's better film adaptation to his stories, and the camp, and scares, along with Stephen Kings creative writing makes the film a fun horror flick to watch whether it scares you or not.

RATING 4/5