You can say a fair amount about Stephen King. The prolific horror author has written a tremendous amount of books, many of them sadly being forgettable and oftentimes just dull. However, my own personal opinion tends towards believing that King has written two bona fide masterpieces that stand as great pieces of literature – The Shining and It (of course this is only an opinion, and King has written many great novels, these two are merely the ones I feel stand above the rest as his ultimate masterpieces). The former was memorably made into an iconic yet troubling horror masterwork by cinematic iconoclast Stanley Kubrick. I can’t say the recent adaptation of It has such a legendary figure behind it, nor can I say it is as problematically divisive as The Shining, but I can say something else – it is a wonderful, meaningful and incredibly-made horror film that does what many horror films fail to be – be absolutely terrifying, while never losing the heart at the core of the story. When horror cinema strives to be inventive and innovative, it is quite a pleasant surprise to see something so utterly simple in execution result in one of the most entertaining (if not somewhat flawed and occasionally hackneyed) horror films of the year. For every problem I found with It, there was something else there that made me actually really like it more. It may not be a masterpiece, but for what it set out to do, it is a pretty great film in its own right, and something that can stand alongside its iconic source material.

Horror cinema has become incredibly experimental, with many different filmmakers attempting to create something new and exciting and previously unseen in horror cinema. While films like Unfriended and Paranormal Activity (and the countless other found-footage films that took advantage of the deafening buzz around the format) are innovative to an extent, they are essentially gimmicks, designed to generate buzz. There are rarely horror films made simply for the sake of being terrifying, without any overly-ambitious cinematic pyrotechnics going on behind the scenes. That isn’t to say that they don’t exist, but sometimes a good, traditional horror film is all anyone actually needs for a memorable experience. That is precisely where It comes in – it doesn’t attempt to be anything other than a simple, straightforward film about a terrifying entity causing havoc. In a cinematic landscape dominated by expectations of something deeper, It dares to stand out by merely following the conventional, yet reliable, formula – but it does have some memorable surprises lurking within, which only results in an even more enthralling horror experience.

The small town of Derry, Maine seems to be any standard little town, with a community that relies on family values and a sense of togetherness, which is only emphasized in necessity due to the frequent disappearances of town children, including Georgie, the brother of Bill (Jaeden Lieberher). The disappearances are caused by a mysterious entity known only as “It” by the rag-tag group of social outcasts known as The Losers Club, consisting of foul-mouthed Ritchie (Finn Wolfhard), introverted Stan (Wyatt Oleff), tough-girl Beverly (Sophia Lillis), hypochondriac Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), sensitive orphan Mike (Chosen Jacobs) and mystery-lover Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), who sets off the entire journey into the decades-long mystery of the terror that befalls their town. They soon discover the entity is personified in a variety of ways, most notable as the utterly terrifying Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgård), who proves to be an equally childish but despicably sinister figure who enjoys torturing the children for his own amusement as well as to feed on their fear, which he needs to survive so he can continue to wreak fear on the innocent inhabitants of the small town. It is up to the Losers Club to defeat this creature and protect themselves and future generations from its fiendish wrath.

The thing about It is that it isn’t just a horror film, which is precisely the core of a lot of Stephen King’s books, which rely on the guise of horror to distract from the deeper genre playfulness imbued within his work. It struck me several times throughout this film that not only is It is a great horror film, it is far more than that – it is a brilliant coming-of-age story, with our protagonists being a group of individuals trying to defeat their own personal demons while battling a very real and equally sinister one. The fact that the entity personifies itself to reflect one’s own deepest insecurities and fears only serves to be a commentary on teenage angst and the fear the comes with growing up. I found deeper meaning within every one of the transfigurations, each of which made some comment on our most primal fears, as well as the trials and tribulations that come with growing up. There are major similarities with this other child-themed films, especially Stand By Me, which is obviously a notable non-horror adaptation of another King novel, The Body. Mixing horror with a coming-of-age drama along with some genuinely funny moments resulted in a wonderful and entertaining film.

It gets the cast exactly right. The central core cast of the children are fantastic, each one getting moments to become developed and gain character complexities which result in some tremendously satisfying performances. Jaeden Lieberher leads the cast well, being equal-parts heroic and insecure. Sophia Lillis is the most emotionally-strong character, playing the sexually-abused Beverly. Finn Wolfhard is a scene-stealer, with many of his moments being hilarious and bring much-needed levity to a film that goes to some very dark places. Even if Chosen Jacobs doesn’t have too much to do, with his character being almost secondary to the other characters, he still has his own emotional (albeit tragically under-explored) arc that may resonate with many people. I think most of us can find ourselves relating to one of these characters or one of their experiences, and the film strikes the right balance between action and plot development to focus on creating characters that are memorable and well-constructed, which is almost unheard of when it comes to a film involving an ensemble of children, who usually end up being a homogenous mass rather than being clearly-defined individuals. It may not be completely groundbreaking work on the same level as other child actor performances, but it certainly does provide these young talents with the springboard towards bright futures in the world of acting.

Ever since this adaptation of It was announced, I was anxiously awaiting the casting decision for the titular character’s most famous persona, Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Whoever they chose would have the difficult task of following Tim Curry’s iconic performance in the original miniseries. Several notable names were thrown around before it finally settled on Bill Skarsgård, son of Stellan and brother of Alexander. I wasn’t completely thrilled with this decision, mainly because I was expecting them to go with someone unconventional and exciting such as Tilda Swinton and Mark Rylance (both of which were considered, much to my chagrin). However, let this be a lesson – never jump to such conclusions, because Skarsgård was so terrifying and sinister, and met every one of my impossibly high expectations for this character. Menacing, cruel and sadistic, he exists within this film’s innovative cinematic prowess in showing this character as being completely otherworldy and desperately horrifying, something that Curry’s performance wasn’t able to do, by no fault of anyone, being the result of technology than simply not being on the same level as it is now. Skarsgård has so much fun with the character, and his unhinged and deeply disturbing performance was a sight to behold. I am not sure what this will do to his career, whether it will give it a boost or if the heavy makeup will prevent him from becoming a household name particularly soon after this, but needless to say, either way, it was a truly terrifying performance and well-within the canon of great horror movie villains.

I’ve heard many complain that the CGI in It left quite a bit to be desired, and to be honest, I have to agree. It wasn’t the most progressive and elaborate uses of CGI, and a lot could’ve been done to make it a bit less jarring. However, to its credit, it did manage to have a huge impact by way of simply not looking like a traditional horror film for the most part – the cinematography in this film may not be innovative, but it did accentuate the scope of the small-town, contrasting it with the deeply unsettling lair of Pennywise. I have to admit that some of the technical decisions made in this film did seem out of place and took me out of the film ever so slightly, but not enough to distract from the great performances and chillingly scare atmosphere that exists within it.

It is a really great film. It may not be for everyone, and it may alienate viewers who want something a little more substantial. Personally, I found its humble attention to showing the coming-of-age story wonderful, as well as the fact that it features one of the most terrifyingly unhinged horror film performances in recent years. It may not be a masterpiece, and it won’t stand up alongside the original novel, but ultimately it is a fantastic film that may not be incredibly nuanced or groundbreaking, but it is entertaining and pure horror escapism. It is a horror film that doesn’t expect the audience to do anything that have a great time, and I certainly did. Like I keep saying, it may not be particularly amazing, and it may be forgotten in a sea of innovative horror films that come out year after year, but for what it’s worth, I do think It deserves quite a bit of praise simply for being a thrilling and genuinely scary piece of horror cinema.