I imagine audiences flocked to the premiere of IT in anticipation to see a good old fashion monster movie something to just mindlessly chew popcorn to and occasionally jump at. Well too bad because what you’ve got in store is an emotional psychological horror that will have you too enthralled to even remember you bought that overpriced movie theater popcorn.

From the opening scene where we are introduced to Pennywise, the villainous child eating clown, a tight sick feeling forms in the stomach.

It is filled with so much emotional torture that it leaves you numb for almost the rest of the movie. I mean really you see a sweet little six year old boy sailing a paper boat in the rain wearing a yellow raincoat cap get lured to his inevitable doom. Oh did I mention his name is Georgie? And as he’s chasing his little paper boat he repeats “honk honk here comes the S.S. Georgie”?

This scene is something so disturbing that leaves you clutching to your seat and glancing at the screen through your fingers.

While It fails to meet that same level of poignancy for the rest of the film it enough to keep you in that state of terror for the next 145 minutes.

Not to mention director Andy Muschietti makes use of the cinematography to really torture the audience.

The gloomy shots of nothing visible but an unnatural upturned red smile and ice blue eyes make you dig your nails into your palms.

How It is presented to each of our seven protagonists, all outcasts of some sort: stutter, fat, Jewish, glasses, girl, etc., is something psychologically petrifying.

It banks in on the deepest fears and worries of each character and targets them while alone so they feel weakened and submissive.

That is just so incredibly messed up that I can’t even believe they would expose actual children actors to such a thing.

The character design of Pennywise in personality and aesthetic is chilling.

The original live action IT features Tim Curry dressed as an actual circus clown meant to tempt children where as Bill Skarsgard’s 2017 take on is literally a copy and paste of a “killer clown

costume” you see in stores on Halloween. Of course the production value of the costume was better that said Halloween costume but still the overtly horrific get-up seems to take away from the credibility. Kids are scared of clowns as it is why would they trust any clown let alone one as deomic looking as this?

Despite the somewhat cheap thrill of a costume Skarsgard is still scary.

I mean what isn’t terrifying about clowns in general let alone one with an appetite for children.

And the children he has an appetite for are wonderful performers. They give IT the backbone it needs to keep it from being just another token horror flick. My baby boy Finn Wolfhard of Stranger

Things especially packs a punch as Richie, the comedic relief of the film.

Maybe it’s just my motherly instincts that makes me want to yelp whenever this poor coke bottle glasses wearin’ child is in the face of danger but I truly believe that it is Wolfhard’s amazing acting that keeps me on my toes.