Spooky season has arrived and with that comes scary movies! You’re lying if you say you’re not looking forward to all of the horror movies set to be released in the next two months. The first release of the season is the sequel of ‘It’. Who doesn’t love a good killer clown movie?
Movie franchises continue to get remade and revamped. Movies like ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ tend to never sell as well when remade. If you compare the scores that Rotten Tomatoes gave the original 80’s film, it’s 94% has nothing on the 2010 remake. ‘It: Chapter Two’ was released this past weekend and its first installment had mixed reviews. While ‘It: Chapter One’ received 86%, most of the critics marked it “not scary enough”. If you were to ask the people around you, you might hear the same. The problem with these critiques and opinions are that they equate the scare factor to the value of the movie.
Unlike most classic horror stories, ‘It’ comes from the nightmares of a 14-year-old. In between the jump scares and gore, there’s a coming of age story for all seven of the main characters. Each character has their own individual fear that Pennywise takes advantage of and as seen in the ‘Chapter One’, they overcome those fears. They grew stronger with this experience not just within themselves but with each other. They no longer felt like outcasts because they found where they belong. 27 years later, they have new fears and separate lives. To say that Pennywise brought them together is a little morbid, but it’s true. The pact they made as kids has to come into full effect for the sequel and they reunite. Take away the horror and you have a high school reunion movie.
Everyone will experience this movie differently. If you ask a 40-year-old for their opinion, they may have liked the remake for nostalgic purposes. In the ’80s, the concept of a killer clown coming at you in different shapes and forms was terrifying for its time. Now, we’ve seen almost every horror movie under the sun and there are definitely things scarier. Perhaps that’s why the comedic relief was tapped equally with horror. Andy Muchietti may have realized that the movie couldn’t get off simply with horror if he was sticking as closely to the script. Tapping into a different emotion gives the movie more to lean on.
‘It: Chapter Two’ doesn’t exceed expectations; there’s not much difference between the first movie and the new movie. The imagery is a lot more intense, however, which may cause you to cringe in your seat. There is a suicide scene that takes place for anyone who finds the trigger warning helpful. Overall, it was a good movie though. Neither installment was better than the other, but it is important to get familiar with the first movie before going into ‘Chapter Two’ thinking it’s just a scary movie. This could affect the way you form your opinion on it. But either way, go into the theater ready to be entertained and with no other expectations.
Feel free to check out my full review of “It: Chapter Two” here.