It is a horror movie that anyone who likes Stephen King and horror movies, in general, should see. The movie has all the horror movie classics such as jump-scares, bad decisions, and villains that prey on our fears. It is not a film for those who do not like gore or creepy clowns because this movie does have a fair amount of violence and gore. However, if you can get past the initial violence and gore, It becomes more of a psychological horror film centering around a killer clown that abducts children every 27 years to eat.

It takes place in Derry, Maine in 1989 and centers around a group of children known as the Loser’s Club. The Loser’s Club is investigating disappearances in Derry after Bill’s younger brother, Georgie, goes missing the previous year. To defeat the movie’s villain, Pennywise the Dancing Clown, they must overcome their greatest fear that Pennywise uses against them. Even though the movie contains both gore and jump-scares, It is a somber movie because children are going missing and the parents had a tendency to turn a blind eye to the disappearances, suggesting that the parents potentially know that Pennywise exists and are too scared to stand up to him because he is deadly. Inaction on the part of adults puts the burden on the Loser’s Club to stop Pennywise.

The film also explores some very dark topics in addition to the children’s greatest fears. Loser’s Club member, Beverly Marsh is molested by her extremely conservative father, who attempts to isolate her from boys her age. Extreme bullying is also an issue the characters face. Bullies spread false rumors about Beverly’s sexuality and the number of boys she slept with, and Ben Hanscom has his stomach sliced by bullies. To make the children’s situation worse, Pennywise utilizes their fears towards these people in an attempt to kidnap and feast on their bodies. It demonstrates that people will play on children’s concerns to gain their trust, but then will exploit children in their vulnerability and do evil things to them.

It is a much a darker horror movie than most because viewers see young children die and see how evil adults and other children can be. Most horror films I saw involving young children have the children survive, and the adults around them die. This film hits harder because young children’s lives are cut short by Pennywise. Although it is a dark movie, I would still recommend that people see it because it has great acting and a great plot with classic elements of horror films.