Stephen King’s famous novel, “IT,” makes it’s way to the big screen for the first time in a terrifying two hour horror-thriller focusing on the unlucky kids of Derry, who are forced to battle the frightening clown, Pennywise, and other horrors created from their worst fears.

The movie kicks off with the well-known and infamous scene of poor young Georgie floating his paper boat along the side of his street, only to have his playful fun come to a dreadful end with a deadly meeting with the horrifying clown. The story continues to unfold with Georgie’s older brother Bill (played by Jaeden Lieberher) on center stage. We follow Bill and the self-titled Loser’s Club through their desperate search for Georgie and the unexpected meetings and sightings of It.

Although this is the very first time “IT” has been brought to the theatres, the best-selling book did have it’s shine on the small screen with a three hour TV movie that aired in 1990. Since then, the popularity of Stephen King’s novel has grown enormously and Pennywise the Dancing Clown has been known as “the scariest clown in history.”

The thing I noticed most about this new retelling of the same terrifying story is that director Andres Muschietii really stuck close to the book’s story with this movie. Almost all the small details mentioned in the book were showcased in the movie and, in my opinion, made the film all the better. 

With a run time of two hours and 15 minutes, “IT” is a rated R horror film and is currently showing at most local theaters. Overall the movie was very engaging, making me care very much for the characters and what happened to them. The plot development was excellent, with the movie coming to a very satisfying, yet not complete, ending. Moviegoers seemed to enjoy this film as well. While I was watching the movie, during a scene taking place in Bill’s garage, a man in the front row jumped up out of his seat and screamed out of fear during a jump scare. Pennywise and the unfortunate kids of Derry did fantastic at the box office, with “IT” reaching $123 million within the first weekend of its release. Although unconfirmed thus far, chapter 2 of the widely-acclaimed horror film will likely be in the makes soon and possibly scheduled to release sometime late next year or early 2019.

Because of the great story, phenomenal acting by Bill Skarsgard playing Pennywise and even the kid actors, and attention to details that made the movie even greater, I’m giving “IT” an eight and a half stars out of 10 rating. The only reasons for this fantastic movie is not a 10-star rating is that there were some areas where the movie could have done a better job at explanation and storytelling, although very few. The movie flowed well, with only a few scenes that seemed either unnecessary or that could’ve been moved to a different spot to make the flow even better.

Overall, “IT” was a fantastic horror movie, one of my personal favorites, and I highly suggest any horror fans to see this masterpiece.