Director: Andy Muschietti
Date: 22 April 2018
jamesintexas rating: ***1/2
There was a Missing Persons poster on the door to my daughter's school two weeks ago, and the straightforward terrifying proclamation of a loved child disappeared was completely chilling to me as a relatively new parent. Movies have changed for me now that I am a dad. I watch fewer of them, I might be more forgiving or less harsh towards their mistakes, but I think that horror films especially offer a new level of malevolence for me as a parent. It is a revelation, not because it always steers this story in the right direction (often times, no), but it wins out because of its audacity and unsettling qualities, its burrowing into the sections of my brain that are attuned to this kind of scariness. I watched It twice, turning it back on immediately after finishing it, but in full disclosure, I broke it up into multiple tiny pieces (15-20 minute chunks) which no doubt diluted its full effect but made it possible for me to finish. Wow, this is rough stuff.
The Losers Club fight against an indescribable force of evil lurking in the mysterious sewers of Derry, Maine, a force that manifests itself as their deepest fears, often a clown named Pennywise who offers balloons from sewer grates before dragging a victim down to its lair. The film has so many characters to introduce that it moves at breathtaking speed, as we might Bill (whose brother Georgie succumbs to the balloon trick in the opening scene), Beverly, Ben, Eddie, Mike, Richie, and Stanley, each with their very briefly defined character personality. There simply is no time. Derry is also haunted by the menace of the malevolent Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton), who bullies and brutalizes with authority; I like to draw a line between him and Ace, Kiefer Sutherland's baddie from Stand By Me. The Losers Club come together, rather quickly, as they realize what is happening to the town, and for the most part, we are off and running. The film's running time (set against the book's epic thousand plus page scope, even when jettisoning the modern day stuff) means that it has to keep things moving, and in some ways, it really does. Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) appears frequently in many forms, often as frightening as a painting that chases you, a diseased transient near the spookiest old house ever (seriously: it looks like a house straight out of Mordor), and even in a car driving by a violent scene as a red balloon floats gently to the rear ceiling. It says a bunch about the film's power if it can wrench true terror from a slide show projector in a garage and a floating red balloon across a near-silent library. The changing of forms is often a bit of stagecraft; a person will look away, and then It will be there. Or, he will transform into the form of another character. It delivers on the story's most terrifying image: Bev being haunted by voices from her sink. The resulting deluge of blood is positively Kubrickian and breathtakingly terrifying its redness juxtaposed against the light above the spewing sink. The film's signature set piece is not the sewers, like I thought; it is the creepy house with its doors and unseen menace. There's a moment of pure body movement horror in Pennywise's emergence from a refrigerator is bone-chilling and unforgettable, and Muschietti wisely plays up the weirdness of Pennywise, his speech patterns, his references, and his gigantic forehead, plastered with white paint and orange tufts, demonic red lines that seem otherworldly and medieval. The film goes too far and over-the-top only a few times, taking me out of the irrational horror of it, but I really admired its chilling moments. It earns its R-rating.
Finn Wolfhard is the stand-out here as Richie Tozier, a profanity-spewing jerk of a thousand jokes who seems to be channeling the great Corey Feldman. The rest of the cast does fine work with what they have. The set design is pretty terrific too, as is the music and the make-up. The scares are frequent and real. I like the often twisted, tilting cinematography of Chung-hoon Chung. In a darkened theater, this film must have been incredible. There are a couple of musical cues that play up the late 80's nostalgia nicely. It's flaws include a denouement that feels a bit off or light in consideration of the horrors of the moment. There is some editing that suggests Henry Bowers has done some pretty heinous stuff to his friends, but maybe not? And, I'm wondering where they go with Bowers' character because of some late changes to the story. And speaking of changes to the story, the film commits to its R-rating, but it concisely tells the story without some of the major moments of the novel, and I'm not a purist who is ridiculous, but I think I'm just eager to see what other changes they will make because the story line is now significantly different and possibly less powerful. The resulting 27 years will be rough ones for The Losers Club, as Pennywise will no doubt draw them back to Derry, but luckily, this film made so much money that is seems we will have to wait far less for Chapter Two. What is a bit sad is that there is going to be a complete jettisoning of the cast because of the age jump, unless Muschietti commits to flashbacks. I cannot imagine what horrors Bill Skarsgard will come up with for the second round. He's pretty terrifying, though maybe because of my age and association with the novel and original miniseries, I think that I'm a Tim Curry guy, all the way.
In closing, I think it is a bit unforgivable to deny Eddie Kaspbrak his pivotal moment with the inhaler, speaking for all asthmatics. Not sure how they screwed that up.
And, I'm said to note the passing of Harry Anderson, the adult Richie Tozier in the 1990 miniseries.
