It (2017)

A horrifying reimagining of Albert Lamorisse's 1956 French short film The Red Balloon. No actually It is the newest version of the story from Stephan King's 1986 novel of the same name, which was previously made into a television mini-series in 1990, with Tim Curry memorably playing the demon clown Pennywise. Set of course in small town Maine, but updated from the youth of the baby boomers to the 1980's, the film invites obvious comparison not just to its source material but to the Netflix series Stranger Things, as its protagonists are chiefly Jr. High level kids dealing with the paranormal, one of whom (Finn Wolfhard) is also on Stanger Things.

I'll say right up front that Stranger Things is better, but this is still good. I liked the young cast, of whom the vaguely Elle Fanning like Sophia Lillis has the most potential to grow in an Oscar worthy direction. Bill Skarsgård of course has some big shoes (pun intended) to fill as the movies It. He's creepy, does a good job, but Pennywise suffers some from diminishing returns do to his frequent appearances. This film takes it time, and makes sure everyone gets their little story line, but I can certainly understand why it was approached previously as a mini-series rather then a film. There is a good sense of ill ease permeating this movie, though often its most discomforting parts are the human rather then the supernatural.

Is it a spoiler to say there will be sequels? ***1/2