IT

US, 2017, 135 minutes, Colour.
Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfahrd, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Bill Skarsgaard, Nicholas Hamilton, Owen Teague.
Directed by Andy Muschietti.

Stephen King has been publishing novels for over 40 years, an extraordinary career, considered the doyen of horror writing. He has sold millions of copies and so many of his novels and short stories have been made into television series and films.

It was made into a television series in 1990. There is an intrinsic piece of information in the film, that the murderous clown, Pennywise, and his associates appear every 27 years. So, in 2017, 27 years later, here is It again.

As most frequently with Stephen King, the setting is in his own state of Maine. So many of his stories might be subtitled, Malevolence in Maine. Certainly the case here. And, remembering his other story and film about youngsters, this one could be Stand by It – or, rather, Stand against It!

This version of it has done extraordinarily well on release in the United States, over $100 million in the first week, and parallel box office in other English-speaking countries.

If it’s horror atmosphere you want, then It certainly provides it. While the setting is the American summer, and a lot of the action takes place in the sunny streets of the town, out in the countryside, quite a lot of it is dark, very dark, in sinister drainpipes, in sinister seemingly haunted houses, in dark wells and, literally, a vast underground.

The film is quite long and the early part spends quite a bit of time establishing the characters of the young boys who are at the centre of the action, especially in Bill’s younger brother, George, is seen with a paper boat at the opening of the film, following it down the rainy streets where it floats into a drain opening – only for the horrible clown, Pennywise, to appear, to tantalise George and then to devour him.

Bill (Jaeden Lieberher, the boy so effective in Midnight Special) and his friends, age 13, are tormented by the 15-year-old bullies of the town, one of them doomed, not a moment too soon, and the ringleader eventually getting his gruesome comeuppance.

The group of boys includes Richie, loudmouth and crude, Eddie, small and pampered health-wise by an overlarge mother, Stan, Jewish and preparing him for his bar mitzvah, Mike, African-American?, working for his grandfather in an abattoir, Ben, the large new boy to the school who is more particularly the subject of bullying. Ben is helped by Beverly (Sophia Lillis in a strong performance), also tormented by the local girls, kind, despite her abusive father, and, emerging as a significant leader of the group.

There are a number of parents, teachers, police – but they tend to be minor characters because all the attention is given to the youngsters.

As Bill gets his friends to investigate where George might have disappeared to, each of the children is confronted by the personification of their fear, especially by that horrifying clown and in room collection of venomous associates. Their fears come to life as malevolently aggressive, building up to a climax in the extraordinary underground set, dead children floating in a tower, sudden apparitions, and a great deal of physical violence.

And, at the end, the credits announce that this has just been chapter 1. We won’t have to wait another 27 years for the sequel’s release because the setting of this film is 1989 and so the sequel will have to be set in 2017! Just wait a year or two…

(And a word of complaint about the 13-year-olds and their incessant swearing, wearing and wearying – and a challenge to the screenwriter to be more creative with language.)

1. The popularity of Stephen King’s novels? Film versions? For over 40 years? His imagination and horror stories?

2. The popularity of It, as a novel, as in 1990 miniseries for television, for this film? The prospect of Chapter 2?

3. The credibility of the plot, the characters, the situations? And terror and horror?

4. The premise, the person’s fear, fears being personified? The embodiments of fear, malevolent embodiments, threatening, dangerous, violent, causing death?

5. Historical background of the town, the research, the events of the death of the children? 27 years apart? Leading up to 1989 and the threat to the children? Children disappearing, notices around the town, the reaction of the parents, the lack of searching?

6. The state of Maine, the town, summer 1989, homes, the synagogue, the streets, the countryside, the lake, the drains? The underground drains, bars, sewage? The haunted house, exterior, the horror interiors? The underground caverns and wells? The musical score?

7. The introduction, George, Bill, the making of the boat, the rain, George going to the drain, is sailing the boat, going down the drain, the appearance of the clown, George in conversation, the cheery chat of the clown, yet sinister, the teeth, biting George’s arm, his disappearance?

8. The portrait of the different boys, Ronnie, cheeky, foulmouthed? Stan, his father, the preparation for the Bar Mitzvah and his singing in Hebrew, Eddie and his large mother, her concern about his health, possessiveness? Mike, African- American, working for his grandfather, the abattoir, the bolt and the killing of the animals, his unwillingness? The deliveries? Ben, the new boy, large, being bullied, in the library?

9. Beverly, her being mocked by the girls in the toilet, encountering Ben in the library, sympathetic, signing his book? His infatuation with her? The later revelation of her back story, the abusive father?

10. The picture of the bullies, their age, the three together, as individuals, the cruelty of their bullying? The bully and his going down the drain and his being trapped? Henry Bowers, his cruelty, pursuing the group? His father the policeman, his father and his violent dominance?

11. The background of adults in the town, at the school, the police, the glimpses of parents, including Bill’s and George’s – and their giving up on the search for the children? The atmosphere of the missing children, the posters around the town, yet people accepting it?

12. The research, the events happening every 27 years?

13. Bill, his search for his brother, the map, the coordinates, the places for disappearance, the finding of the old house? The sense of mission? Loyalty of the friends, the difficulties, the bullying, upsets, pulling out?

14. The atmosphere of the drains, the search for the missing children, the experience in the drains?

15. The old house, the sinister interiors, the experiences in the house, the well and people falling down the well, being rescued and lifted out, the complete underworld in the house? Henry Bowers and his being destroyed?

16. Beverly, her being taken, the bodies of the children floating on air? George and his encounter with Bill – and his being possessed?

17. The range of evil, the ghostly appearances, Pennywise and his continued presence, the distorted picture, the variety of monsters? The struggles with the children, the rescues? Courage? The special effects and stunt work?

18. The resolution of the situation in 1989? But the announcing of Chapter 2 – and another 27 years – 2017 as a setting for the sequel?