Sorry that I wasn’t able to write this up and get it posted yesterday, but school stuff came up and I’m on a tight deadline. I need to have certain documents finished by the end of this week. Hopefully, since next week is a long weekend for me due to the Independence Holiday, I’ll be able to catch up on my writing, but for now, the school docs are my highest priority.
So, saying that, I’m going to do a mini-review for It that I watched over the weekend. I bought both Chapters One and Two on sale on iTunes earlier this year, but I’m just now getting around to watching them. So here’s my impression of the movie.
Stranger Things on Steroids
Now, I’ve seen the original It mini-series from the 80s and I’ve read the book. While I think the book is good (except for the ending), I remember the mini-series being just okay. I loved Tim Curry’s performance as Pennywise but I thought the rest was a bit bland. However, this new version of It really upped the ante so to speak. While I don’t know if Stranger Things inspired anything in the movie, I do know that it definitely has a Stranger Things feel to it with the focus on kids struggling against the supernatural. I think that the acting on all fronts was highly believable and the scares are definitely there, even more so than in Stranger Things, much more closer to the “jump scares” variety in more traditional horror movies. That being said, like Stranger Things, the movie picks its moments. There are places where the kids band together and we see their normal lives or how they deal with the aftermath of crises, but this isn’t a “jump-scare-a-thon” where you’ll be constantly quaking.
A Horror Movie for a Non-Horror Fan
Now, before I go too deep here, I want to be sure to mention that this movie has plenty of scares and violence. If you don’t like any horror/horrific elements, this isn’t a movie to watch. However, I personally don’t really care for horror as genre. I used to like “ghost stories” and some “scary stories” as a child, but I discovered that horror (as modern writers do it) activates my “flight or flight” reaction and makes it impossible to really get invested in the story (unlike action/thrillers like Terminator 1 & 2, Alien & Aliens, etc. that have some horror elements). Horror, as modern writers/movies do it, just doesn’t work for me. It Chapter One was on the edge of what I can tolerate and still be invested in the stories and characters. Sometimes it slipped over the edge, but it was never too much, so that I called it quits, unlike other horror movies that I’ve tried to watch and finish recently (Sputnik and Life, I’m looking at you). For me, Stranger Things never crosses the line, but It Chapter One sometimes just barely crosses the line before returning back. I like it and say that it is a good one to watch if one doesn’t really like horror, but there will be times when it will probably be too intense for the non-horror fan.
Overall Rating: B+
I really enjoyed the movie, more for the interaction with the kid characters than for the horrific elements in the story, but I thought that the horror was also well done, just a little too intense in some cases for my personal tastes, but others may feel that it doesn’t go far enough (especially, horror aficionados). Still, I definitely intend to rewatch it and I’ll also watch the second chapter in the story, even though it is supposedly not as good as the first. My mother, who doesn’t like watching horror movies at all, would NOT be a good candidate for this movie at all. I, however, felt that it was a good movie that was just a touch too scary in a couple of places, but did a really good job of establishing characters and conflicts to tell a really good story.
Sidney
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Currently Working On (June 2021):
- Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market. - Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
2021 Revision: Completed. - The Independent (Science Fiction Story)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market. - To Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: In Progress.