KING’ S CLOWN PRINCE OF HORROR
BURIED within the 1000-plus pages of Stephen King’s disturbing 1986 novel It are piercing truths about the corruptibility of innocence and the redemptive power of friendship. Among the expertly crafted lines is one hypochondriac’s sombre realisation that true evil doesn’t always manifest as a dancing clown. “Grown-ups are the real monsters,” he laments. Andres Muschietti’s nerve-jangling adaptation of King’s hefty tome seizes on those words by portraying the fictional town of Derry, Maine, as a hotbed of adult exploitation, abuse and degradation of the young. This opening salvo is reset to the late 80s to focus on seven children, whose lives are scarred by a malevolent presence that materialises as Pennywise the clown (Bill Skarsgard). A second instalment, which should begin filming early next year, jumps to the present day to consider the impact on those children in their adult lives.
In June 1989, the children bond as the Losers’ Club, drawn together because they are all victims of the beatings inflicted by sadistic 15-year-old Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton).
The stuttering leader of the Losers’ Club, Bill Denbrough ( Jaeden Lieberher), bears the deepest and freshest wounds: his younger brother Georgie ( Jackson Robert Scott) was dragged into Pennywise’s subterranean lair the previous autumn.
Bill seeks balm for his grief in the company of fellow misfits Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Beverly (Sophia Lillis), Eddie ( Jack Dylan Grazer), Mike (Chosen Jacobs), Richie (Finn Wolfhard) and Stanley (Wyatt Oleff). However, Pennywise intends to divide and conquer by feasting upon children’s fears.
It is a stylish horror thriller that remains largely faithful to the source, with notable omissions. One character’s inner turmoil about his sexuality and a controversial sex sequence in the sewers are excised.
Fans of Netflix series Stranger Things, which plunders merrily from King’s oeuvre, will be giddy. Muschietti’s film is steeped in nostalgia: posters of Beetlejuice and Gremlins, a Walkman blasting out New Kids On The Block and one angry boy belittling the sole girl in the gang by sniping, “Who invited Molly Ringwald into the group?”
Skarsgard is genuinely terrifying as a shape-shifting predator, who is deadly serious about clowning around.
Roll up for all the fun of the fair from hell.