One of the biggest problems with book-to-film movies is that many times they fail to capture the spirit of the book. That largely falls on the director, but when the transition is made well it can have a blockbuster result at the box office. Think Silence of the Lambs.
The buzz around Steven King’s book-to-film IT movie will likely have people giving the word “it” a new cultural reference. No more Information Technology acronyms. King has a storied history of top notch writing, with many of his books ending up as horror fan favorites. IT may be the best of them all.
IT is one of two planned movies based on the book. Early reviews have people freaking out about clowns, even if they were immune to Coulrophobia before. Who would have thought IT would take 30 years to make it to the screen? Words like “terrifying” and “shocking” are regularly used to describe the experience, and given that horror film fanatics have seen just about everything imaginable, for IT to ratchet terror up yet another level is saying a lot.
More than a few people are raving about the performance of Bill Skarsgard, tweeting that he may become the Freddie Krueger of the next generation. An equal number of people are saying that The Losers in the film are perfectly set in their roles in the film.
When was the last time you read about a movie being romantic, funny, and absolutely terrifying all at the same time? IT has been described in exactly those terms in a single sentence. That is enough to make anyone curious about seeing the film. For readers of the book, the vast majority of early viewers say that it not only stays true to the spirit of the book, but IT makes the transition perfectly. There are some obvious omissions from the book that were necessary to avoid an X rating, and some that are nearly impossible to CGI on the big screen. Yet even those flaws do not diminish the superlatives used to describe the viewing experience.
Do you remember the last time you had fun being completely terrified? It might be the clowns, or it might be fact that you could laugh about it afterwards. IT has people avoiding the dark corners of their homes and doing a double take when taking out the garbage at night. It has the weird effect of having you hoping the movie never ends, yet when you leave you wish you could forget about IT and stop being afraid of the dark (and clowns).
The seductive mix of fun and horror has you enjoying the movie and feeling good — and that’s when a new kind of terror strikes you. So sit back and relax, and enjoy your popcorn. Just be sure not to choke on it when IT pays a visit at the most unsuspecting moment. IT is so good the trailer won the Golden Trailer Awards in the category of Best Horror trailer.
IT is scheduled for an official release on September 8, 2017.
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