“It” draws you in just to freak you out

Classically, clowns are around to make you laugh – this is not the case in the film  It.

The killer clown  Pennywise  is a shape shifter  whose personal  favourite  form is a tall, balding, sharpen toothed grinning clown.  His food preference: children.

Surprisingly, this horrifying enigmatic creature is not the  centre  of the film.

It  focuses on the lives of a group of children, The Losers’  Club; a  group of five boys and one girl are haunted and hunted by this creature living in the sewer system in their town of  Derry.

These children bring a special quality to the film that softens the horror genre. Each kid in the group has a personal fear, or is going through a traumatic experience in their home lives; but they remain funny, honest and bound to one another.

Imagine taking the courage of the kids from  Stranger Things  and the lunacy and provocative nature from the boys in  Stand By Me,  smoosh  them together to form a new group and you have The Losers’  Club.

There are moments of wide-eyed panic when the children come face to face with the clown creature. There is no consistency with Pennywise, because it changes frequently in its shape and its personality. The true horror of this creature is its specialty to cater to your personal, deepest, fears.

This film, unlike the majority of horrors, is heavy in dialogue, giving the audience the ability to know its characters well. Stephen  King was the first to give the movie a thumbs-up of approval.  It  became the highest grossing horror movie in history in a matter of weeks.

The children in the Losers’  Club evoke not only empathy from the viewer with their tribulations, but put the audience at ease with their naive, childlike humour and courage.

It  has a 1980s movie feel, with young love and kids whose mouths should be washed out with bars of soap (with really good CGI, of course.)

The anticipated  remake is more a coming of age story with thriller qualities than it is a horror movie. Yes, there’s blood. Of course, kiddies are eaten, but there’s a lack of detachment from the film that regular horror movies have. The film ends and instead of being exciting for the theatre lights to turn on, you want more. Luckily, Pennywise returns every 27 years – the Losers Club will be back for a sequel.

Horror Rating: 7 — With  coulrophobia (the  fear  of clowns)