One of the most talked about movies for the fall season this year is the remake of the 1990 Tim Curry led, IT. This time taking the lead of Pennywise the Dancing Clown is Bill Skarsgard. Bringing into the movie his own take on the very infamous character/ villain of the movie. IT brought a little bit of everything for every type of moviegoer.
For those that had seen the straight to television movie of IT with Tim Curry, this felt a little nostalgic but with something new for them to go see. For the horror fanatic, this movie had surprising turns every which way that gave it unpredictability and a feel of something new with each new scene. There was even a little bit of blood in a few of the scenes for those who enjoy seeing the blood and the guts.
But, whatever your want was from this movie, one thing was certain the story kept many of us at the movie theater wanting more. The main story was that of Pennywise the Dancing Clown and of the Loser Club. With the story, came the development of each one of these characters as the movie went on.
The movie made me want more from these characters with every passing scene. I ultimately wanted to know them as much as I know one of my own family members. That wouldn’t have been possible with the directing genius and writing ability of both the director Andy Muschetti and the writer Cary Fukunaga.
From the actors and actresses of the movie that we are directly involved in with to the people behind the scenes making every detail shine, everyone did great. This movie started off great, kept going very well having me wanting more, and then ending with a solid ending but giving hint towards more that we can expect soon.
All the characters performed very well in the movie with developments of these characters across the board. One of those characters in IT being Pennywise the Dancing Clown, played by the very talented Bill Skarsgard. When trying to make his own interpretation of Pennywise, he did not want to be seen as another Tim Curry’s Pennywise. Bill Skarsgard brought his own idea of what Pennywise should be and do.
When asked about how he prepared for his role, Skarsgard said he spent hours trying to get the right smile for Pennywise. The amount of time and effort Bill Skarsgard had put into this character was clearly seen when interacting with the children of the Loser Club.
The Loser Club being the collection of the children, like Bill and Beverly. They had all been affected by Pennywise one way or another. Each one of them had an interaction with Pennywise and something they feared most. In this rendition of IT like with the novel and the TV movie, had each child’s fear was used to torment them until they couldn’t fight back against the clown anymore. This was one of the ways the children came together in the movie, each having some interaction with Pennywise.
Later in the movie, we see that the town bully, Henry Bowers played by Nicholas Hamilton, had bullied each one of these kids in some way, bringing them together as well. The kids in the Loser Club had to own up to their own fear to defeat Pennywise which is the moral of the movie: with friendship and courage can you truly go after the fears that control your life.
Some members of the Loser Club dealt with fears that some of the audience could feel a connection to more than others. With Beverly, it was her abusive father. Her abusive father is seen at the beginning of the movie as elusive, so viewers don’t really get too much of an idea of what he was really about. It wasn’t until the bathroom scene where Beverly is looking into the sink of her bathroom, hearing the voices of the children she thought were long dead, did we truly get what her father was about.
The bathroom consisted of her looking into the bathroom sink, hearing the voices of the children that she and the rest of the town were long dead. After a few minutes of dialogue, you can hear the children start saying, “You’ll float too!” This iconic quote that no one could forget from the movie even if they tried. Then it goes quiet, and all you see along with Beverly is a little red balloon coming up to the top of the bathroom sink. The red balloon pops leaving blood splattered all over the bathroom walls and Beverly screaming bloody mercy.
Her father comes running in to see what was wrong expecting to see a Peeping Tom looking at his little girl as she was in the bathroom. Then everything that this character is supposed to be in the movie comes to the surface: he can’t stand anyone except for him to be near or with his, “little girl.” With the repetition of that quote being said every time he interacts with Beverly, he made it obviously clear that he was an abusive father with sick intentions.
Another clear example of some fears planted in reality would be that of Bill who had lost a brother to Pennywise. Anyone who has gone through this knows that losing someone, regardless if that person is your brother or not, is tough. For some, if the person was close enough like Georgie was to Bill, then visions or hallucinations might become prevalent. For Bill seeing Georgie was the work of Pennywise but for others, it is a whole mess of emotions that make seeing their dead companion a reality. With whatever fear these children had throughout the film, a fear is a fear and it will make you feel alone and afraid. Those two feelings were the two that these children of the Loser Club felt with them coming together beating feeling alone and beating their fears no longer feeling afraid.
The movie itself was in my opinion, something that was worth watching and watching again. The development of these characters alone made it a movie worth watching. The relationships between Bill and Bev, The Loser Club and Pennywise, or even the children and their respective adult parents was enough for me to keep on watching this movie.
The fears of the Loser Club made the movie IT more relatable and understandable. Everyone has fears of something as children, and for some those fears don’t escape you, they stick to you for years to come even in adulthood. I am excited for the next chapter of IT to come out in the near future. If anything, I think for many now we will have something nostalgic to look back onto twenty-seven years from now, just like those who saw the first IT movie.
Photo Credit: IT Movie