Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.
It (2017) succeeds largely on the strength of its young cast, who deliver surprisingly grounded and emotionally resonant performances — particularly Jaeden Martell and Sophia Lillis. The coming-of-age dynamics feel genuine and add weight to the horror. Pennywise as reimagined by Bill Skarsgård is genuinely unsettling and distinctive. However, the plot follows Stephen King's source material closely enough that it offers few surprises to those familiar with the story, and the structure can feel episodic. The ending — the final confrontation in Neibolt House — deflates somewhat into CGI spectacle, losing the atmospheric dread built up earlier. Cinematography is competent and atmospheric but rarely transcendent. Novelty is moderate: it's a polished, well-executed adaptation of a beloved property, but adaptation rather than reinvention.