The reinvention of Stephen King’s novel It, directed by Andrés Muschietti is an updated look at the infamous antagonist Pennywise and his search for children to eat. Set in the summer of 1989 in Derry, Maine, a group of young kids that call themselves the “Losers” are trying to survive from bullies and their (quite honestly) parent’s terrible parenting.

    The Losers find more trouble as they start having hallucinations, orchestrated by the antagonist, It. Once they find out that they all have been having these hallucinations, they set out to find and confront It…With reluctance.

    The movie inputs three elements that strengthen its appeal to an audience: intensity, comedy, and moving storytelling. What many people don’t realize is that a horror movie can introduce comedy without being a terrible horror movie. This movie is an amazing example of excellent comedic placement. There were people in the movie theater halfway out of their chairs and they’d end up relaxing as the comic relief, Richie, cracks an 80’s oriented joke.

    The movie, because it is based on a novel, grants it a lot of potential for telling an impactful story, and they tell the story well. The studio did not focus on the CGI, effects, or horror as much as they focused on the story. The story that the movie tells makes the concept of It even scarier.

    The development of the characters in the movie was  well done, too. There are several instances in which the kids would have backstories that introduces the character, and then their encounter with It. This implements more emotion into the audience for each of the characters.

    This movie made cinema history. It only had $35 million in its budget and it grossed over $607 million in the box office. Several different collections of fans applauded this movie in several different aspects.

    Fans of literature felt that this movie is the best adaptation of a book since the Harry Potter series. Fans of the miniseries felt that this was a great improvement over the cheesy, comedic feel of the miniseries. Fans of horror movies felt that this is the best horror movie they’ve seen in years.

    Though this movie is capable of capturing  the hearts of many in theater audiences, there are still things that can be improved upon in It. Not to say that credit isn’t due to the very resourceful use of the low budget of $35 million given for this movie, but the CGI was not the greatest. Not that it ruined or killed the momentum It builds up, but the CGI used in It felt fake and sometimes comedic, yet menacing at the same time.

    The secondary antagonist that has been set for this film include the bullies, centralizing on the character Henry Bowers. A distressed teenager that takes his anger out on members of the “Losers” club made several appearances in the movie.

    Unfortunately, there wasn’t as much to this character as the audience feels is needed. The audience wants to see the backstory of  this a distressed character, especially the fear expressed in his face after encountering his father for the first time in the movie. There was a lot of potential for backstory to an interesting antagonist that isn’t touched on in the movie.

    From ignorant and threatening adults, to bullies, and to the main antagonist, this movie shows the struggle of a group of friends trying to achieve victory in a battle no one supports. It gave the “Losers” club an underdog feel, since all elements were not in favor of the characters.

    Given these  circumstances It does an amazing job of intriguing the audience to connect and sympathize with these kids, which allows them to care for the characters far more than they originally had.

    It’s creepy, intense, comedic appeal, and great storytelling is what turned it from an inaccurate depiction of a great novel into an all-time memorable movie. It will stay in American culture for years, and we will forever recognize Its’ influence on cinema.