IT (2017)

Gosh darn it's been ages. But fear not, Dear Reader, I should be here more often now that I've finished uni. Plus, I haven't yet finished my #EpicHorrorMovieRewatch, there are plenty more films that I've seen and forgotten what they were about.

I am trying to be more open when it comes to horror film remakes. There are SO MANY of them and SO MANY of them don't turn out very well. It's hard to not be weary, I've been burnt before. I cringed when I read that IT was being remade - the two-part telly series was so brilliant, did we really need another one? My involuntary response to this is usually 'no', the 'hang-on, let-me-think-about-this-for-a-minute' response is 'yes'.

I have a confession, I haven't read much of Stephen King's stuff - I'm more of a Clive Barker person. However, I did read IT back in the 90s sometime and I frikken loved it. I can't remember anything that happened in the book because that was ages ago. I've seen the teleseries a few times, recently even. I think it's impossible to compare Tommy Lee Wallace's 1990s adaptation to this new one so I'm not even going to bother. Tim Curry's Pennywise is one of the best horror characters ever. As a wise lady once said, "Nothing Compares 2 U." My memory is so bad I really can't remember much of the tv thing either. I watch too much stuff.

A whole house filled with nope.

This adaptation of IT was directed by Andy Muschietti (Mama). The screenplay was written by Chase Palmer (Neo-Noir), Cary Fukunaga (True Detective), and Gary Dauberman (Annabelle: Creation).

I'm going to assume y'all know the story so I'm going to skip the usual synopsis bit and get on to the most important part of any review, my opinion.

Part One has been set in 1989 which was so good because I was the same age as these kids in that year. I LOVED New Kids on the Block just like Benny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) did. It's a massive memory-triggerer for Gen-Xers - clothes, appliances, although I don't remember swearing as much when I was thirteen. Lordy, how things change.

 Losers.

The person/s who cast The Losers need to get a pay rise and a nice bunch of flowers because every single one of them was brilliant. When I was watching, I kept wondering who would play the adult versions of these characters in part two and whenever I saw Sophia Lillis who plays Beverly on screen I thought of Amy Adams because gosh darn they may as well be twins that were born decades apart. Anyway, I looked up Sophia to see what other things she had been in and one thing she has coming up is an adaptation of Gillian Flynn's book Sharp Objects which is a fucking awesome book. For those playing at home, Flynn also wrote Gone Girl and Dark Places (film adaptation of Dark Places is on Netflix and stars Charlize Theron and I love it). Anyway, we read about the main character in Sharp Objects when she's young and when she's older. Sophia Lillis is playing young Camille and guess who's playing older Camille... Amy mother-flipping Adams. I should be a casting agent.

Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Bill Skarsgård. Wow. If you're wondering about where he fits in the Skarsgård family tree, he's Alex's younger brother (True Blood). Jeebus, this guy is good. I don't have an irrational (or rational) fear of clowns (I don't like dolls though), but holy crapper there is going to be a hell of a shortage in psychologists who specialise in phobias. If you know anyone who could be pushed over the edge into full-blown coulrophobia, do not let them see this film. Or this season of American Horror Story (more clowns). They will hate you for the rest of your/their lives and when they finally die of fright they will come back and haunt you. Like, fo shizz. He's that good.

It's not just Pennywise who is monstrous, it's the kids' parents. They are horrific. They kind of reminded me of David Fincher's Se7en - each parent representing a deadly sin (they didn't really but you know what I mean). A couple of them were worse than the clown.

Special shout out to Nicholas Hamilton who plays the psychotic bully Henry Bowers. Fucking brilliant.

I cannot fault this film. Nah, that's not entirely true. There was one thing that bugged me. I see it in many films and it bugs me then too and I can't stop noticing it. It's actually one of three things that bug me in films - I have a list...

1) People in films carrying around coffee cups/mugs that obviously do not have any liquid in them.
Watch this:

2) People in films wearing shirts but it looks like they've just put the shirt on and they haven't pulled it down all the way so it's all scrunched up near their armpits (I will try to find a screencap of this to share).

3) People in films with coloured contact lenses but the lenses aren't put on properly and their pupils look in different directions.
Pennywise's eyes are wonky sometimes and it bugged me.

Apart from that, this is a fucking perfect film and a big win for #TeamRemake. Horror sure has become more sophisticated over the last almost-three decades and this film has benefited from each new innovation. The special effects are slick, the sets, costumes... it's like the film was waiting to be remade but only when the genre had reached a particular moment in time. Just like Pennywise, IT waited twenty-seven years........ spooky.

There is a high chance that I will be seeing this again tomorrow.

I can't mother-flipping wait until the next part.

Things I learnt: you've got the Right Stuff, baby; always carry two fanny packs; when it comes to hocking up loogeys, mass is more important than distance.

14/10.
Still picking my jaw up from the floor.

I don't know if this has anything to do with the film... I saw the flick at Chermside Westfield and I was walking around and saw this on a shop window. Cross promotion? Concidence? Is floating the new black?