LET'S TALK ABOUT... IT

 

Every 27 years in Derry, Maine, a diabolical entity terrorizes children in the shape of a clown named Pennywise. In the 1980s, a group of seven kids called The Losers get together to try to destroy him, but they have to deal with their own personal demons in the process.}

In his literary work of the same name, master of horror Stephen King (whom I love and admire beyond any limit) tells us the story of a group of friends who face their worst fears, and the consequences that those events have on their adult lives. I can speak for hours about the book, because I believe it is one of the best King ever wrote, but I want to talk about the beautiful adaptation Andy Muschietti made.

In his two films, It and It: Chapter 2, the argentinian director takes us to the dark world of Derry, where terrible things happen and everybody seems to ignore it. The atmosphere is terrifying, and it shows us the desolation our protagonists feel. Pennywise is amazingly interpreted by Bill Skarsgård. And the way in which Muschietti develops every character while maintaining the essence they have in the novel is astonishing. I think that only a few have been able to accomplish something similar, showing on-screen the soul that King’s heroes have.

It works perfectly as a scary movie (I literally screamed while watching it at the movie theatre) but it also functions as a coming-of-age story, in which we see the Losers grow up and connect with them in a special way. This is not only because of the script and directing by Muschietti, but also because of the cast. The young Losers and the adult ones do a spectacular job, and complement each other with a rarely-been-seen chemistry in such an ensemble of characters.

All in all, I believe that the Muschietti siblings have created one of the best movies of the last decades, and its success was due partly to the magnificent mind of Stephen King, but also because of the creative minds behind this project.