Is it the extreme anticipation associated with a cultural touchstone? Something has to account for mediocre movies getting a critical pass — I'm thinking of The Force Awakens, for one, and a more recent example is the 2017 adaption of the classic Stephen King horror novel It, which is about as much of a holy grail as Star Wars for King fans. It's stunning to me that this movie sits at an 85/84 on Rotten Tomatoes, and I think a lot of horror movies in recent years — Insidious and The Conjuring among them — have been pretty grossly overrated. I mean, we know going into a horror movie that most of them are bad, but have we set aside all expectations at this point?
Here, Andy Muschietti's big-budget treatment gets off to a quite promising start in the opening scenes as the paper boat floats down the street in the heavy rain and Georgie pursues it; when it goes down the drain and Georgie comes face to face with Pennywise for the first time, it's captivating to see the solicitous monster trying to push just the right buttons to lure in his prey. Bill Skarsgard nails it in that moment, and I'm ready to go along for the ride. Sadly, though, the movie quickly descends into the usual jump scares, noise and nonsense of modern horror movies; long before the silly final confrontation mercifully arrives, I just wanted it to be over (my viewing partner wholeheartedly agreed). As plenty of others have pointed out, a real bright spot in the movie is Sophia Lillis as Beverly; she displays a gravitas beyond her years that hints at great things to come.
If I had to watch one of the two adaptations of It again, I'd opt for the slow-burn TV version. I recall that King once said he should have called the novel "sh*t." I don't know about that, but, when it comes to this movie, if the clown shoe fits …
