Over the weekend, the highly anticipated film adaptation of Stephen King’s famous novel “It” was released in the United States. During it’s opening weekend, the film grossed $123,403,419, the highest earnings for an opening weekend of a horror movie in history. Although big fans of the 1990 version of “It” will have some critiques relating to the 2017 version, I think it is important to view the newer film without comparing it to the other. Both films have great character development and storyline, but if you spend your time critiquing the differences between the two neither will be enjoyable.

In addition to the extremely terrifying, nightmare fueling Pennywise the clown, the most standout part of the film is the main characters and their individual storylines. Two characters that stood out to me were Beverly Marsh, played by Sophia Lillis and Eddie Kaspbrak, played by Jack Grazer. Beverly and Eddie’s individual storylines of their abusive and over protective parents (to an extreme extent) tied into the story of the rest of the crew perfectly. They were able to use their greatest fear, their own parents, as fuel for Pennywise to be haunting them. This made for a more serious tone to the movie, something I was not originally expecting going into the movie. Along with the amazing writing and character development, the cinematography throughout the movie added to the eery feel of the story. A lot of shots took place on darker, rainy days in beautiful outdoor landscapes. Although I enjoyed most of the characters in the movie, some of the humor used in the movie seemed forced and unnatural. Finn Wolfhard’s character Richie Tozier served as the comic relief in the film, but often times used over the top inappropriate humor to get his role across. It seemed unnatural for middle schoolers to be using such strong language and to be discussing in depth sexual topics. His character seemed to almost replicate his character from the hit tv show “Stranger Things” so I had a hard time enjoying his storyline.

Students at haverford have been patiently awaiting the arrival of this film and have received it extremely well. Seniors Rachel Boyce and Candice Sammartino saw the film together in hopes that it would be less scary when not alone. “I will definitely be having nightmares about this movie.” said Rachel when asked her views on the film. Candice Sammartino shared her thoughts on the differences between the new and older films. “I was a huge fan of IT before seeing the new film. I was definitely afraid that they would ruin one of my favorite movies but I was proved wrong. This film is a must see for all horror movie fans.”.

The film ended in a cliffhanger-esque way, leaving the viewers wanting more. Many predictions have been made about whether or not their will be a chapter 2 of IT. According to The Hollywood Reporter, producers New Line are pencilling in a 2019 release date for the second chapter. If you have a chance to get out to the theatre and see this movie, I recommend you should, horror fan or not. IT serves as a comedic yet terrifying film about the greatest fears every kid can relate to.