Day 10: IT Chapter One: Was It Worth the Hype?
With the prequel series Welcome to Derry right around the corner, I figured it only made sense to revisit the 2017 film that reintroduced Pennywise to an entirely new generation. For anyone who might’ve missed it when it first hit theaters, it’s based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel of the same name. Watching it again now, I can’t help but wonder what exactly scared me so much back then. Maybe it was my age, maybe it was my lack of horror experience, but rewatching this as an almost 30-year-old woman has made it a lot harder to connect with the movie the way I did in 2017.
Friday night usually means one thing for people my age: gathering with friends for drinks, heading to the avenue to lime, or something along those lines. My Friday, on the other hand, looked a little different. Snacks within reach, a cozy spot on the couch, and HBO Max queued up for a rewatch of IT (2017). I was ready to see if it still had the same bite it did back then, but as the opening scenes rolled, I quickly realized it just didn’t hit quite the same way anymore.
The movie follows a group of kids affectionately known as The Losers’ Club. The group consists of Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Martell), Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff), Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), and Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs). They’re a bunch of nerdy, awkward kids just trying to enjoy their summer vacation while dealing with the growing number of disappearances happening all over the town of Derry. Bill, in particular, is struggling after his little brother Georgie goes missing. Of course, we already know what happened to Georgie. His fate plays out in one of the most memorable opening scenes in horror movie history. He’s chasing his paper boat down the street when it slips into the sewer, and that’s where we meet Pennywise for the first time.
This time around, Pennywise is played by Bill Skarsgård, who brings a creepy, jittery energy to the role that used to scare me, but on rewatch, I have to admit it came off a little goofy. Don’t get me wrong, Skarsgård isn’t the problem here. It’s just that the whole movie feels funnier than frightening now. Some of the “scary” moments are downright laughable thanks to the CGI. Take the scene with the creature that crawls out of the painting with Stanley, for example. Tell me that didn’t look like King Ramses from Courage the Cowardly Dog. And sure, King Ramses did traumatize kids back in the day, but here it just feels so out of place. I’ve never been a fan of heavy CGI in live-action horror anyway. I get that it’s supposed to look uncanny, but instead of being scared, I end up feeling like I’m watching a cutscene from a video game. Which is saying something, because I’m not even a gamer, I just know when something looks a little too PlayStation for my liking.
All that said, this isn’t a bad movie by any means. It just isn’t what I would call particularly scary. Pennywise has the potential to be one of the most terrifying figures in horror. He is a multidimensional being who can tap into the deepest fears of his victims and warp reality itself. Could anything be scarier? Possibly, but in this movie, I don’t think he’s ever used in a way that fully reaches that terrifying potential.
IT (2017) is still a fun movie to revisit, even if it doesn’t terrify me like it once did. The cast is fantastic, the story has heart, and Pennywise still has his creepy moments. It may not live up to the full horror potential of King’s original vision, but it’s a nostalgic ride that’s worth experiencing, especially for fans of the story or anyone looking to see where it all began before the prequel arrives.