REVIEW: The dancing clown returns 27 years later with the reboot of ‘It’

Andy Muschietti, director of “Mama” (2013), brings yet another horror film to the big screen. Muschietti takes a shot at revamping the 1990 television mini-series “It;” both the movie and TV mini-series are based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel of the same name.

In the film, a group of seven children is terrorized by a vicious clown (Bill Skarsgard) that uses their fears to taunt and terrify them for his own entertainment and survival.

The film is based in the town of Derry, Maine. Every 27 years, the town is menaced by brutal acts of violence and a series of child murders. Derry is the feeding ground for an evil entity known as “It,” who can morph into any shape but most often prefers to exist as Pennywise, The Dancing Clown.

The film focuses on the lives of seven children who live in Derry: Bill, Ben, Beverly, Richie, Mike, Eddie and Stanley. The children are played by Jaeden Lieberher (“The Book of Henry”), Jeremy Ray Taylor (“Good Behavior”), Sophia Lillis (“Sharp Objects”), Finn Wolfhard (“Stranger Things”), Chosen Jacobs (“Hawaii Five-O”), Jack Dylan Grazer (“Me, Myself, and I”), Wyatt Oleff (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”), respectively.

Bill Skarsgard replaces Tim Curry (of “Rocky Horror Picture Show fame”) as Pennywise, a clown who taunts and terrorizes children for his own entertainment and survival. Both actors do an excellent job portraying their version of an evil clown, but Skarsgard takes the trophy for me, as he had me sitting at the back of my chair covering my eyes. He takes evil to a whole ‘nother level with a chilling laugh and frightening smile that will definitely give you nightmares. Tim Curry, although he did well with his portrayal, took a more comedic route. In the scenes where he haunts the children, he toys and taunts them rather than immediately attacking.

Finn Wolfhard plays wisecracking Richie Tozier, a character who always seems to have a witty comeback when he and his friends jab jokes at each other. He always seems to lighten the mood just before a frightening scene, similar to his character Mike Wheeler in “Stranger Things.”

27 years between the mini-series and the film, plus the difference between the two mediums, makes a huge difference in how the screen adaptations were made. Tommy Lee Wallace, director of the mini-series, made the TV show at a time where visually frightening scenes were probably not able to be aired. Therefore, a scene where Pennywise is about to attack only shows his terrifying teeth, then skips on to showing the blood afterward. Muschietti’s interpretation of the book to film serves as a great, yet scary entertainment with its amusing cast and visual scenes.

Wallace directed the TV mini-series in two 90-minute episodes, going back and forth with the characters as adults and then as children to tell the story in a series of flashbacks. Muschietti also tells the story in two parts, but the first film, 135 minutes long, focuses on the characters just as children in the 1990s.

Part two of “It” by Muschietti will focus on the characters as adults. The second movie is scheduled to be released in Sept. 2019, which is more than enough time for all of us to watch the film, have nightmares for a few weeks and forget about it until “It” creeps back into our lives two years later.

All in all, if you’re into the horror genre, then I recommend this film before it leaves the theaters. It’s a movie that should age well. Two thumbs up.