IT Chapter Two scares up box office hit

  On Sept. 6, director Andy Muschetti released IT Chapter Two, the second part to IT (2017). The movie follows the adult “Losers Club” back to Derry, Maine, 27 years after they thought they had destroyed the killer clown terrorizing their hometown. Turns out, Pennywise is back, and the Losers are the only ones who can stop him. 

   Overall, the movie was well made, with a good story and touching themes. However, some of the CGI de-aging was cheap looking, and the film wasn’t as scary as it should have been. 

   The film opens with a scene straight from Stephen King’s book IT, which the movies were based on, when Adrian Mellon and his boyfriend are visiting the Derry town fair, where some local teens taunt them.The teens then follow them out to the bridge where they beat an  asthmatic Adrian to near death, before throwing him over the bridge into the river below. Pennywise then retrieves his body from the water, and to the horror of Adrian’s boyfriend, brutally kills him. There has been a bit of backlash due to the nature of this scene, and according to Slate.com, viewers feel the director exploited a real killing for shock value. The scene is identical to the real-life killing of Charlie Howard, minus the killer clown. Howard was murdered in King’s hometown. Howard’s death deeply affected both King and the town of Bangor, Maine. 

   As far as storylines go, IT Chapter Two has a good one. It was well written, with strong and touching themes.  A major theme of the film was love and friendship, which may seem out of place in the horror genre, but it actually feels very natural. As adults, the Losers Club has to overcome more fears, and put more trust in each other like never before. 

   Occasionally, the movie would flashback to 1989, but several years after the filming of the first movie, the child actors have grown up a bit. The most noticeable example of this would be on Finn Wolfhard, who plays Richie Tozier. In post-production, his face was edited to make him appear younger, but the effects were overdone, and he just looked like they had applied an outrageous beauty filter. Other than that, most of the editing and CGI was very clean and wasn’t noticeable. 

   Bill Skårsgard, who plays Pennywise, deserves a story all on his own. His dynamic performance truly makes the movie a memorable one. No one thinks they’ll feel sympathy for a psychotic clown, but Skårsgard makes it happen with no trouble. IT Chapter Two delves more into the truly manipulative nature of Pennywise. 

   There is a scene where a little girl, Victoria, tells Pennywise that, “You’re scary. You’re not my friend.” He breaks down into tears, explaining to her no one wants to be his friend because of the way he looks. Victoria feels bad, explaining to Pennywise that she has a birthmark on her face, so no one is friends with her either. Pennywise explains that he can get rid of the birthmark, but she has to come closer to him. Of course, she believes him and complies. Bad move, kid. That’s why you don’t talk to creepy clowns hiding under bleachers. To be fair, Skarsgård’s acting is so compelling, you can’t really blame her. 

   A quick nod has to be made toward the casting director for the adult Losers Club. Andy Bean and Jay Ryan are both spitting images of their child counterparts, Jeremy Ray Taylor and Wyatt Oleff. All of the children were asked who they would want to play their adult characters, but only Sophia Lillis and Finn Wolfhard’s choices, Jessica Chastain and Bill Hader, ended up being casted. 

   Compared to the first movie, this one upped the scare factor, but that doesn’t really mean much when IT wasn’t scary by a long shot. There were scary moments, sure, but nothing that keeps people up at night. There were way more jumpscares in the second film, and the exaggerated amount of gore can be appreciated by horror and slasher fans alike. The new bloodiest scene in movie history takes place in IT Chapter Two, as well. Formerly, the unofficial title was held by The Shining, with the elevator doors and the two rivers of blood gushing through them. 

   Unfortunately, three weeks after release, IT Chapter Two is almost a hundred million dollars behind its predecessor. All things considered, though, the movie has been a success. IT Chapter Two was a well-made movie, with a great story and phenomenal acting. Minor mistakes were made, but overall, they don’t detract too much from the film as a whole. IT Chapter Two deserves an 8/10.