• Home
  • Meet The Team that are Barking Mad About Films
  • Contact BMAF
    • Website Privacy Notice
    • Cookie Policy

Barking Mad About Films

One man and his dog; both barking mad about films

Is IT A Great Adaptation Of A Stephen KIng Book?

September 10, 2017 by Bill Leave a Comment

n/a
shares
Be First to Share ->
Share on Twitter
Share on Google+
Share on LinkedIn
+
What's This?

We are fans of the books of Stephen King, and one of the ones we enjoyed the most was It, which gave us the iconic Pennywise the Clown, who is already known to many having already been immortalised by the legendary Tim Curry, in a 1990 TV mini series adaptation.

Chihuahua with It on DVD
Pepper with the much loved but with faults mini series version of IT

With liking both the book and mini-series, as well as giving them a re-watch, we were highly excited to see this new film adaptation from director Andy Muschietti, who had already had some success with the horror genre for his 2013 film Mama, starring Jessica Chastain.

We were hopeful that this new adaptation would be worth a watch but held some reservations as original director Cary Fukunaga and his Pennywise actor Will Poulter both left the project over creative differences, Cary does keep a writing credit on the movie, however.

So does the film deliver? The film which centres on childhood friends, who name themselves The Losers Club, in part due to illnesses, reputations, body type; colour are all joined together from all avoiding the local bully Henry (Nicholas Hamilton who we also saw in the adaptation  of The Dark Tower) but we also learn they are all seeing a mysterious clown, known as Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard)

Pennywise shows all the members of the losers club their worst fears, these being for Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) visions of his missing brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott); for lone girl club member Beverly (Sophia Lillis) its visions of her abusing father and for Richie (probably the most known of the cast, as from TV monster hit, Stranger Things, Finn Wolfhard) he sees visions of clowns.

We learn also the fears of all the other ‘Losers’ Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor); Ben (Chosen Jacobs); Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer) and Stanley (Wyatt Oleff) as the bond of the 7 friends bonds them closer and closer, especially between Bill and Bev.

Ben, who has been researching the history of the town, learns that throughout its history, learning every 27 years, major disasters happen, with the mysterious Pennywise the clown having links to them all.

The Losers Club knowing this soon learn that it will take all of them to defeat the clown, which is a goal of theirs to stop the nightmares, and for Bill especially, who  still holds on to the belief that in doing so, he can find his brother Georgie, dead or alive, giving him much-needed closure.

Make no mistake this is an exceptional film, the young cast are superb and Skarsgard offers a different slant on Pennywise which is just as memorable as  Tim’s brilliant performance in the mini series

The film is at its best when showing the difficulties of growing up, making friends, first love and it exceptionally shows the horrific events of bullying. It is this that will make you think fondly of another excellent King adaption, Stand By Me yet still feel modern enough to compete with the likes of Stranger Things.

The overuse of CGI is probably our only negative of the whole film, but that seems harsh given how well it has got you involved into the story. As Stephen King film adaptations go, this is by far one of the better ones and makes up for our disappointment of the Dark Tower.

The sequel has already been rushed into production where we see the 7 friends again, 27 years later, when the next expected disruption from Pennywise is scheduled.

What is also most pleasing about this film is that it has done exceptionally well at the box office despite its R rating, which like Deadpool only proves if you give an exceptional story, audiences will watch, contracting the idea that all films need to be a PG13/12 to survive.

The queue for It Chapter Two starts here! What are your favourite King film adaptations and who would you cast as the older versions of the losers club in the sequel? We would love to hear from you!

5 Star Review of It
It is quite frankly outstanding! It excels in its telling of youngsters growing up thanks to an exceptional young cast. Pennywise the Clown instantly retains his status of horror icon too. You’ll go for the scares but stay for the simply wonderful coming of age story – 5 Popcorns

Watch the trailer as well as enjoy a VR experience at the film website here:

Chihuahua with It book by Stephen King
We can’t wait for Chapter 2 of It as Pepper and I have read the bookso know what’s coming! 

Can’t wait for the sequel, get the book here:

Want to revisit the miniseries, buy it here: 

Buy the film from Amazon here:

Never miss a BMAF blog. Receive email notifications when new posts are published by entering your email address in the subscription box on the top right-hand side of this page.

You can also like us on Facebook for more film news and content www.facebook.com/barkingmadaboutfilms/

Share on Twitter
Share on Google+
Share on LinkedIn
+

Comments

comments

Filed Under: 5 stars, Actor, Adaptation, Blockbuster, Blockbuster movies, Book, Book Adaptation, Book to film, Box Office, Buddy Movie, Casting, CGI, Character Drama, Characters, Chat, Choice, classics, Coming of age, Creature Feature, Critics, Cult Classic, date movie, Debate, Decisions, Different, Director, Discussion, Drama, fantasy, Fantasy Adventure, Fantasy Film, Favourite, Film, Film Chat, Film Rating, Film review, Film reviews, Film Star, Films, Five Star review, Five Stars, FX, Ghost, Ghosts, Halloween film, Halloween viewing, Horror, Memories, Monster movie, Monsters, Movie Discussion, Movie Monsters, Movie Review, Movie stars, nostalgia, Psychological Thriller, Reboot, remake, remakes, review, rewatch, Scary, Scary film, Sequel, Stephen King, Supernatural, Suspense, suspense film, Thriller, TV to Cinema Tagged With: 5 Star Review, 5 Stars, Andy Muschietti, Bill Skarsgard, Book, Book Adaptation, Book to Film, Cary Fukunaga, Chosen Jacobs, Clown, Dark Tower, Deadpool, Film Blog, Film Review, Finn Wolfhard, Five star review, five stars, It, It 2017, It Book, It Film, It miniseries, It Movie, Jack Dylan Grazer, Jackson Robert Scott, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jessica Chastain, Mama, Movie Blog, Movie review, Nicholas Hamilton, Pennywise, Reboot, Remake, Sophia Lillis, Stand By Me, Stephen King, Stephen King Films, Stephen King's It, Stranger Things, The Dark Tower, Tim Curry, Will Poulter, Wyatt Oleff

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

What Have We Been Barking Mad About Recently?

  • Our Visible Review of the Invisible Man
  • Is Bad Boys For Life A Return to Form For The Franchise?
  • Is The Rise of Skywalker A Fitting End To The Star Wars Saga?
  • The Barking Mad About Films Top 10 Films of 2019
  • 10 Films We Can’t Wait To See In 2020

Jump to a Category

Jump To a Tag

3 star review 3 Stars 3D 4 Star review 4 stars 5 Star Review 5 Stars Blockbuster Book Book Adaptation Book to Film CGI Comedy Deadpool Disney drama Film Film Blog Film Review Five star review five stars Four Star review Four Stars Franchise Ghostbusters Harry Potter Horror James Bond Jaws Jennifer Lawrence John Wick Marvel Marvel Comics Movie Blog Movie review Reboot Remake review sequel Star Wars Star Wars: The Force Awakens Three Star Review Three Stars Thriller Tim Burton

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in