IT Review

The movie IT is a partly scary and partly funny thriller. Now, I know that the combination of fear and humour is a paradox; I mean, isn’t comedy the antithesis of horror? One need only refer to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, to know how a good laugh can wipe out all vestiges of a frightful scare (hint: riddikulus!)  Much to my surprise, I found the horror-comedy of IT quite enjoyable.

I wasn’t really expecting to laugh while watching a horror movie. I always thought you only laughed when the film was terrible, like Drag Me to Hell. However, as I watched that fearsome clown in action, there were moments when I looked nervously through squinted eyes and other moments, when the movie coaxed a laugh out of me.

Richie, played by Finn Wolfhard, elicited intermittent bursts of laughter from the audience. Pennywise a.k.a. IT, played by Bill Skarsgard, made them gasp in fear. There were scenes of tense silence interspersed with moments of hilarity. The light humour, soothed nerves frayed by the supernatural horror that plagued the townsfolk, in the movie.

There are some clichés in IT that make you squirm with impatience, the most annoying being true love’s kiss. A few scenes fail to scare, like the ones in broad daylight. Somehow, with the sun shining so brightly, even a nightmarish ghoul attack seems like an adventure, rather than a terror. In terms of scare factor, IT is not in the same league as Conjuring or Insidious. However, it does give a fright and it is certainly entertaining.

It’s not easy to make a good horror movie. James Wan manages quite well, which is why I am looking forward to Insidious: The Last Key. However, director Andy Muschietti, has done a pretty good job with IT. IT scares, but IT doesn’t traumatize. IT makes you clutch the seat in fear, but IT doesn’t give you nightmares afterwards. All in all, a thrilling show that I would recommend to a fellow horror-movie buff.

Rating- 3/5