With the impending release of the DVD/Blu-Ray, my attention has once again been turned back on to ‘IT’.
Personally, I hated it. I felt that the CGI was awful and the repetitive attempts at almost-identical jump scares got very boring, very quickly. Most reviews I’ve read seem to state the same. Then they heap praise onto the young cast. That praise is certainly well deserved, but, to my mind, a few good performances from the cast does not make it a good film. Especially as it is a horror film. If your monster isn’t scary, what’s the point?
Furthermore, I found several problems within the story that made me think that what I was seeing was just a case of bad writing. For example - What was the point in the Henry Bowers character? The version presented here actually ended up posing no threat what-so-ever. And why didn’t Ben get the girl? Why even have his crush on Bev be a thing? Of course, anyone who knows the full story, knows that he does indeed get the girl. But not in this version. In this version it’s just left open, and the fat kid loses. That just strikes me as bad storytelling. Also, how is even possible that the losers, when confronted by a some horrifying monster from another dimension, just seemingly decided to no longer be scared? It doesn’t make sense. I’m sure the filmmakers didn’t want to go down the silver bullet route, as that wouldn’t really work with today’s audiences either. But to just have them decide not to be scared... It just doesn’t work like that. Or does it?
There were some elements of the film that were great. Again, the kids did an incredible job. But overall, I thought the film was horrible.
Without the adult element, I just don’t think this story could possibly work. And then, a lot of people seem to be defending the film by stating that all this film does is set up Chapter 2. Am I really alone in thinking that this film (as in, Chapter 1) is supposed to stand on its own two legs? Am I really the only one who thinks it doesn’t?
And if I am the only one, why do people like it so much? How can they look past the bad CGI, the poor writing and over-use of jump scares? Am I missing something? Is that what makes a good horror film nowadays?
Personally, I hated it. I felt that the CGI was awful and the repetitive attempts at almost-identical jump scares got very boring, very quickly. Most reviews I’ve read seem to state the same. Then they heap praise onto the young cast. That praise is certainly well deserved, but, to my mind, a few good performances from the cast does not make it a good film. Especially as it is a horror film. If your monster isn’t scary, what’s the point?
Furthermore, I found several problems within the story that made me think that what I was seeing was just a case of bad writing. For example - What was the point in the Henry Bowers character? The version presented here actually ended up posing no threat what-so-ever. And why didn’t Ben get the girl? Why even have his crush on Bev be a thing? Of course, anyone who knows the full story, knows that he does indeed get the girl. But not in this version. In this version it’s just left open, and the fat kid loses. That just strikes me as bad storytelling. Also, how is even possible that the losers, when confronted by a some horrifying monster from another dimension, just seemingly decided to no longer be scared? It doesn’t make sense. I’m sure the filmmakers didn’t want to go down the silver bullet route, as that wouldn’t really work with today’s audiences either. But to just have them decide not to be scared... It just doesn’t work like that. Or does it?
There were some elements of the film that were great. Again, the kids did an incredible job. But overall, I thought the film was horrible.
Without the adult element, I just don’t think this story could possibly work. And then, a lot of people seem to be defending the film by stating that all this film does is set up Chapter 2. Am I really alone in thinking that this film (as in, Chapter 1) is supposed to stand on its own two legs? Am I really the only one who thinks it doesn’t?
And if I am the only one, why do people like it so much? How can they look past the bad CGI, the poor writing and over-use of jump scares? Am I missing something? Is that what makes a good horror film nowadays?