--Pennywise, It: Chapter One
Yes, as my movie reviews evidence, I am a lover of horror. It is one of my favorite genres! I had been looking forward to the release of It: Chapter One for several months and was finally able to watch it. Author Stephen King has crafted some very unique stories, and It matches his personal modus operandi. I can't think of anyone besides King that I would expect this story from in literary form. The movie, though, forgoes some of the more controversial elements I have heard of from the book (so far at least). Though it (get it?) has several flaws, including a somewhat repetitive style of setting up scares, fans of Stephen King or general horror or both may find a lot to appreciate here. But it offers a haunting take on the story of how a being from another dimension torments the children of a town called Derry, though it is much more than just another film with a slasher antagonist--it is a movie with heart and quality filmmaking.
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Production Values
On practically all fronts, the casting and acting in It: Chapter One are splendid and very fitting. The child acting in particular puts little Anakin's performance in The Phantom Menace to serious shame! Bill and Beverly, two members of the main group of children, are especially acted in a very lifelike, immersive way, though all members of the Losers Club (with the possible exception of one) are consistently acted wonderfully. The demeanor of the children really captures the initial sense of helplessness that is only highlighted by the abusive or neglectful tendencies of most adults shown onscreen. They have no one to turn to who can truly help, but they also have almost no adults (who make an appearance) to request help from because many of Derry's adults have rather obvious flaws that make them poor confidants and assistants. While not part of the Losers Club, Bill's little brother Georgie is beautifully acted and demonstrates the genuine talent of Jackson Robert Scott, who was excellently cast for the role. A scene he shares with his older brother near the end is very emotionally potent and exemplifies how even a character who does not appear during the majority of a film can make a definite impact on the story.
Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise, of course, has to succeed for the titular character of the film to make the movie worth bearing the name the children give to him. And Pennywise definitely makes an impact in this film, despite only actually speaking a handful of times. Skarsgard's grin and voice may even be matched with Pennywise in the same way that Heath Ledger's mannerisms and acting for his Joker character became so deeply connected to the idea of the Joker in cinema. His portrayal of the telepathic, malevolent, energetic "dancing clown" is very memorable. Bill did a great job animating the demented antagonist of the story!
It does have some jump scares, yet this was not 2016's jump scare fest The Forest; the jump scares here have more substance than they would if they were random afterthoughts. They do not detract from the atmosphere of horror because they are not the only scares in the movie. The horror builds all the way until the climax, and it is not merely psychological suspense that develops, as a very visual horror plays a large role in many scenes. For these reason It does not succumb to some of the lackluster "horror" in some genre entries (like the aforementioned The Forest).
From the opening scene with brothers Bill and Georgie making a paper boat to the scene with the band of children defeating Pennywise for a time, It bleeds out (bleeds out! I amuse myself sometimes) high production values in acting, set design, and quality cinematography--one shot where someone twisting a picture frame changes the camera angle was particularly unique. The people who complain about previous efforts to adapt Stephen King stories from novel to film may find themselves truly enjoying It.
Story
(SPOILERS included in this section)
In the town of Derry, a sweet little boy named Georgie makes a paper boat with his older brother and then lets it glide atop the water from an overhead rainstorm. But when his boat goes into a sewer hole and Georgie looks inside, the face of a clown appears. The clown identifies himself as "Pennywise" and talks to Georgie before biting his arm off and pulling the screaming child down into the sewers.
Georgie's brother Bill and some other children soon form a little neighborhood group called the "Losers Club", one that eventually expands to include six boys and one girl. Each of the members has encountered at least one instance where they saw some apparition or were chased by beings. As they begin to share their stories, they realize that they seem to have been haunted by the same entity, which they call "It". Together they discover that It seems to inhabit the sewers beneath Derry. As a group they escape death at the hands of this being twice: once in a garage and once in an "abandoned" house.
All but two members of the Losers Club quit the club activities involving the investigation or pursuit of Pennywise due to fright and fear of actual injuries or ones they may receive in the future, but once the girl, Beverly, is taken by Pennywise, the other members reconnect and venture down into Pennywise's sewers. Reunited and equipped with memories of how they were able to surprise Pennywise in the house by briefly shedding or overcoming their fears, the children use this knowledge and begin not only mentally repulsing Pennywise but also physically attacking him. Together, they drive him back to a shaft leading even deeper underground, where he retreats.
The club leaves the sewers and then uses a glass shard to swear a collective blood oath that the members will come back to Derry in 27 years if Pennywise returns, followed by an emotional goodbye sequence in which they must leave with the memories of their recent hellacious experiences pressed into their minds.
Intellectual Content
The themes of It: Chapter One reduce down mostly to fear and childhood issues like loss of innocence and the isolation children may have in their suffering. In It, as may happen in actuality, division amplifies fear, and isolation from those who do not share or understand those fears can heighten a sense of helplessness. The children realize that Pennywise absorbs strength from the mental existence of their fears--but this means that an absence of their fears means an absence of his power of them. Only when the children in the Losers Club realize that Pennywise poses a far deadlier threat to them individually than to them as a collective group do they begin to find ways to temporarily overpower him as they unite together. The movie presents fear as a powerful, debilitating force, but one that can indeed be conquered through sharing those fears with others and then facing them together, not alone.
The story provides a perfect way to explore how children can be susceptible to both abuse (whether from humans or Pennywise) and how, as children, they can do so very little to actually change their circumstances. It shows how children can both feel and literally be trapped in isolation and agonizing fear without any aid or hope of it from the adults who are supposed to protect them. If a child told you he or she had seen a demonic apparition, would you believe that child? Obviously it is logically possible that the child may be both telling the truth and actually aware that he or she is telling the truth and not misinterpreting some event or sighting. But would you really believe that person? What if seven children told you about it? That is a dilemma faced by the Losers Club. As the appearances of both "It" itself and the abnormal phenomena caused by Pennywise increase, it becomes clear that either the adults of Derry or the children are not actually perceiving things as they are in reality.
It is unclear if the adults are the ones who do not see "reality" as it is, their minds and senses blinded by Pennywise, or if the children are the ones who are having experiences that in some way do not conform to the way things are outside of their visions. I do not mean by this suggestion that Pennywise and the images the children see have no existence whatsoever--at the very least his torments exist as perceptions of the children's minds and senses, even if the children really only experience them on that perceptual plane, and at the very least Pennywise himself exists as a spiritual being that can appear in a material form. I mean that regardless, one group sees the external world with minds and senses that perceive correctly and one sees an illusion that may as well have been devised by Descartes' hypothetical demon (yes, as a rationalist and mind-body dualist, I enjoyed including that reference in this review!).
Conclusion
Another example of the horror renaissance of recent years, It demonstrates that horror is a genre that can convey deep emotion and showcase inspiringly well-realized characters. I have not read the source material--I now want to--but one could enjoy the movie on its own with little knowledge of the background lore, especially since the film itself barely describes any of it. The lore is simply not the focus. The children are, and that proves one of the most impressive strengths of the work. I eagerly await 2019's sequel!
Content:
1. Violence: Some of the violence is inflicted on humans by other humans, some on humans by Pennywise, and some on Pennywise by humans. There are times where characters are impaled, beaten, and slashed in ways that do show blood (but little gore). In one scene Pennywise bites a kid's arm off and the child tries to crawl away with a bleeding stump. The movie also shows some very brutal examples of neighborhood bullying that once involve a bully using a knife to literally carve into the stomach of another kid onscreen.
2. Profanity: These children cuss a lot at times! They use various expletives ranging from "mild" to f-bombs.
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