One-Shot Recent: IT
Written By: Matt Parks
October 4, 2017

For a quick preface, One-Shot Recents will be quick reviews of recently released movies that I’ve seen whether that be in theaters, or released as a Netflix Original. They won’t have any specific release schedule like the Nightmare reviews, so they’ll just be sporadic releases whenever I go to the theater. Our kicker for this review series will be Andre Muschietti’s It.

It is probably the greatest horror movie I’ve ever had the fortune of seeing on the big screen, although this isn’t because of its chilling scares. In all actuality, the film shines as a coming of the age comedy that happens to feature a child-murdering sewer clown as a driving force of the plot.

The kid’s performances had the potential to make or break this movie, and every child actor hit the ball out of the park. A lot of the dialogue was allegedly improvised by the kids, and Finn Wolfhard and Jack Dylan Grazer should seriously be writers for SNL. That’s a stretch, but their vulgar one liners were executed brilliantly, and never took away from the horror aspect of the film. It was perfectly balanced to raise the stakes, and make you care about the ensemble cast of kids. I haven’t seen the original, or read the book (burn me at the stake) so I had no idea what the outcome of the movie would be.  I was at the edge of my seat cheering the kids along in their conquest to kick Pennywise back to kingdom come.





Written By: Matt Parks
September 1, 2017

 
I’ve monologued about the kids’ performances long enough, and I don’t want to undermine the horror aspect of the film. To be honest, the horror didn’t compare to the main cast’s performances by a long shot, but Pennywise did have his spine chilling moments. Pennywise looks awesome, however he’s so scary that it makes you wonder why Georgie didn’t hightail out of the sewer the minute Pennywise’s glowing eyes immerged. None the less, Bill Skarsgard did a brilliant job at making Pennywise terrifying every minute he was on screen.

Each of the characters have subplots that don’t slow down the film, and do a great job helping you understand their motivation, and drive to destroy the clown. You see why they felt like they have nothing to lose, and are willing to risk their lives saving the town, and you care about their adventure. The film is quite akin to another Stephen King adaptation, Stand by Me. If you enjoy Stand By Me at all (or have a deep and passionate love for that movie like me) you’ll love It.

Check out It as soon as possible! It’s worth seeing in the theater, so get your tickets and go watch it. Or theater hop...
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