The Film (5/5)

      It occurred to me when discussing IT, both as a novel and a film last week that Stephen King's epic tome could very well be considered the great American horror novel of the 20th century. The book for those who are unfamiliar covers 2 time period in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, and follows the same set of characters in each. These characters are the "Losers Club" named because of the way they are treated by the older children of the community, and made up of 7 children approaching puberty.  It is set in the late 1950's, and then in the mid to late 1980's, with the same characters as adults, and as such is embedded with a sense of nostalgia for that earlier time.

    In adapting King's work to the screen director Andy Muschetti moved the earlier era to the 80's and focused on the Losers Club as children only, and made this one film into a subtitled "Chapter One". Chapter Two will come in 2019 and appear around our present time, and focus on the adult Losers, it was an interesting decision that still embeds a sense of nostalgia into the film, but brings it into a different era. Regardless, it is still quite effective. More so in fact than the 1990's adaptation of the same work by director Tommy Lee Wallace, at least so far.

    It as I have so far implied takes place in the town of Derry, Maine. Which has been occupied by an entity that is commonly known as Pennywise. It hibernates for 27 years at a time before waking up, and causing great tragedy and death in the community. IT feeds off the fear (and flesh) of the town's youngest residents.  Pennywise's latest bloodbath begins with the murder of Georgie Denbrough brother of Losers Club member Stuttering Bill Denbrough, and continues on through the next year, as the bodies begin to pile up missing persons notices begin to pile up in the town en masse. So much so that the latest flyers just cover up the one that existed before it. The children of the town seem to notice the horror going on around them, while the adults seem to be indifferent to the terror that Pennywise wreaks upon their children, unless it is happening to their own.

    The Losers begin to have separate experiences with Pennywise in individual guises that play on their own fears.  As they begin to discuss them, they realize that unless they do something about it themselves that no one will, and others will continue to die. They are forced to band together, and take to the towns elaborate sewer system to square off against the killer clown before it can get them.

    Muschetti's IT is truly a terrifying horror experience. I do not say that lightly. I went into it with a few things in mind. That stylistically it was going to have a lot in common with more flashy modern horror, which would normally put me off, but overall certain things like Bill Skarsgard's terrifying and truly physical performance as Pennywise really add to the film, the various incarnations of the "It" entity and how it's used on the kids, and the performances of the kids themselves. Also, the town as a haunted locale really adds a creepy and unsettling atmosphere to the whole thing.   There were some minor story changes that bothered me, but I let those go in lieu of the fact that this was a new cinema version, and I was excited to see that play out.   Of course, I do wish both parts of the story were made together so I could have a feeling for IT as a whole, but I am very excited to see Chapter 2 in 2019. Bring IT on.

Audio/Video (4.5/5)

    Warner Brothers presents it with a 2:40:1 1080p AVC encoded transfers that for the most part looks outstanding. Detail is excellent, colors are rendered naturally, blacks are inky and deep and aside from a few trickles of noise I could find nothing to complain about.

    Audio is presented in Dolby True HD 7.1 and sounds truly brilliant. I found no issues with the track, and thought it conveyed the sound of the film quite well.

Extras (3/5)

    There are a few BTS documentaries, an interview with Stephen King, and 11 deleted scenes.

Overall

    This is the adaptation of IT that fans have been waiting for. Obviously certain things have been changed, but it is creepy and effective with great central performances, and does a great job at telling at least half of the story. The Blu-ray looks and sounds amazing, and has a limited, but solid slate of extras. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.