‘It’ remake does not clown around
“It” has returned. The sneering Pennywise the Clown once again stalks the sewers of small-town Maine and no matter how much you loved, or were freaked out by, the miniseries version of the Stephen King classic, prepare to succumb to some wonderfully cheesy shivers up your spine. The remake may not be quite as memorable as the original, but it will give you nightmares nonetheless.
As a child of the ’80s, this reviewer had high expectations for this classic horror fable and director Andy Muschi-
etti mostly manages to live up to them. No, you can never recapture the surprising whimsy of Tim Curry’s iconic evil clown, but this “It” taps into the kitschy vein of ’80s nostalgia (the same fertile ground mined in “Stranger Things”) while staying true to the bones of the novel as a cautionary tale about coming of age in a dangerous world.
The misfit children of the “losers club” have already endured years of bullying and isolation before they battle the fiendish clown. Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor) gets pummeled because he’s pudgy. Beverly (Sophia Lillis) has been branded a slut. Mike (Chosen Jacobs) doesn’t fit in because he’s black. Their awkward adolescence unfolds to a soundtrack of “Bust a Move” and “New Kids on the Block.”
Now they are all targeted by a sinister force that lurks in the bowels of the sewer system, tempting children into the gloom of the storm drain with bright red balloons of doom. The fateful encounter between the clown, the little boy named Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) and the wayward paper boat is as hair-raising as ever.
Bill Skarsgard steps into the oversize clown shoes, grounding the character with a sense of intellectual depth that’s disturbing. He’s not just a monster, he’s also smart and that’s infinitely more ominous. There’s an intelligence radiating from Pennywise’s cold dead eyes as he unfolds his limbs like a jack in the box that’s unsettling.
To be sure there are some disappointing moments when the movie veers from shudder-worthy into the realm of schlock. While the clown interludes are quite disturbing, the second- ary monsters, such as a headless corpse and a leprous zombie, are definitely a let- down. An audience weaned on “The Walking Dead” and “Game of Thrones” has tough standards for CGI ghouls and these campy creatures just don’t cut it. Hopefully Muschietti will muster more technical prowess for the sequel, which is already in the works.
Still, the director rarely skimps on the psychology when it comes to the ragtag posse of pals and that pays off in almost every scene. Finn Wolfhard, who also stars in “Stranger Things,” sparkles as the wisecracking Richie, forever telling a raunchy joke. Jack Dylan Grazer shows off his comic timing as the hypochondriac Eddie. Lillis shines as Beverly, the gutsy red-haired girl of the group. Her ginger status also sets up a priceless Molly Ringwald gag.
While there should be more emotion between Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) and Beverly, Lieberher isn’t that convincing at portraying the grief of losing a little brother. For the most part, the camaraderie and tart witty asides between these tween BFFs give this “It” a sense of humanity that elevates the horror. That’s the genius of King’s brand of terror, the way the real people are far more haunting than the ghosts.
The director crystallizes the truth of the characters in details that shimmer, such as the innocence of the boys, snug in their tighty whities, staring at a girl as if she were an alien or the way Beverly always keeps her eyes down when she enters her house. She doesn’t have the stomach to face what lies inside that door and neither do we because it’s creepier than any scary clown.