On Saturday,  September 9th,  I, along with my mom, sisters, and a friend went to go see the highly anticipated movie IT based on Stephen King’s terrifying novel and his miniseries from the 90’s. IT was Stephen King’s 22nd novel published in 1986. The movie utilizes our modern day fears of clowns and leaves out a few scenes from the novel that most novel fans won’t miss.
Who is IT and what is the basic plot?
IT is about an extraterrestrial shapeshifter that appears as a clown. A shapeshifter began as a concept in mythology. In fact, it is such a powerful archetype that the term “shapeshifting” can refer to several different variances in mythology, both figurative and literal.

In King’s movie adaptation, every 27 years,  IT, sometimes referred to as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, comes out from the trenches, out from under the grates under the streets  to terrorize children using its shapeshifting abilities to take the form of its victims worst fears, dreams and nightmares making them vulnerable, ultimately leading to their painful and fearful death.

After I saw the trailer for the movie, I thought to myself,  “I can’t wait for this movie to come out.” My sister on the other hand wasn’t as excited as I was. “That movie isn’t even going to be good. It looks lame”, she said. Neither of us had any idea just how much we would scream in our own terror throughout the movie.

My sister, the skeptic, screamed the loudest. IT was the best scary movie I had seen since the first Paranormal Activity and Lights Out. It plays on the audiences fears just as Pennywise does to the children of the village. This movie was the first time I heard about IT. I wasn’t too familiar with the 1990s version of IT, but I was amazed by what I witnessed.

IT got 85% rating from the popular movie rating site “Rotten Tomatoes”. I consider that to be a success, and according to deadline.com, a site that monitors movies and what they gross, IT is on pace to becoming the highest grossing horror film of all time .

The movie had a 35 million dollar budget and is close to earning 300 million dollars. IT has been such a hit that there may even be sequel. I hope so. Another reason this movie has been such a success is because targeted three generations who love horror novels and books from Stephen King: the 1980’s 90’s and 2000’s.

I personally give this movie a 9 out of 10. The effects were unlike anything I had ever seen in a scary movie. The acting done by all the actors was amazing. They were comedic and dramatic. It wasn’t overdone at all. The actor’s’ performances were very effective and believable.