Most horror movies do only one thing well; they scare you. “It” does that and so much more.

The Stephen King novel-to-movie adaptation by director Andy Muschietti stars famous actors and actresses like Finn Wolfhard as Richie Tozier and Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise, The Dancing Clown. Muschietti delivers a popular and beautiful film that takes place in 1988 at Derry, Maine and is filled with hilarious comic relief and numerous heart-wrenching horror scenes.

Pennywise, the “bad guy,” represents a new type of horror while still maintaining the jump scares and screams of traditional Hollywood terror. Skarsgard’s character encapsulates a traditional demonic personality, giving viewers the classic villain in a horror movie similar to Annabelle the possessed doll. Pennywise’s evil antics rightfully earned its R rating along with a few gruesome scenes and comedic foul language.

With that being said, Pennywise also shows the uniqueness of King’s characters by reflecting the middle school posse’s true fears and terrors onto themselves.

Writers Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman skillfully mix classic middle school humor and fright with King’s underlying adult themes. The comic relief provided mainly by Tozier gives the audience a laugh when they need one most. Beverly Marsh, played by Sophia Lillis, keeps the fear as real as can be by showing the darker sides of growing up in an abusive household. The writers add more emotions beyond just fear to deliver a horror movie that will give you goosebumps and serve up a killer plot.

Muschietti does a wonderful job at displaying the power of friendship between the young kids in Derry. The Losers’ Club, the squad’s name for themselves, is led by Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough, a worrisome boy dedicated to finding his missing brother Georgie.

A group of loyal friends joins Denbrough in his journey in finding his brother. Tozier, a talkative, witty character, incorporates a light-hearted laugh while Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie Kaspbrak acts as the somewhat mature character that relies on an array of medication to protect him from life’s daily germs and his own hypochondria.

Wyatt Oleff and Chosen Jacobs as Stanley Uris and Mike Hanlon accurately portrayed two kids that are dealing with internal challenges, whether it may be about Stanley and his thoughts on religion or Mike and him learning to deal with the grief of his parent’s tragic death. For the little amount of speaking the two actors had in the movie, both Oleff and Jacobs delivered emotion and fear with great realism in each scene.

Jeremy Ray convincingly plays Ben Hanscom as the intellectual, new kid in Derry who is fascinated with the horrifying history of his new hometown. Hanscom’s love interest, Marsh, delivers an outstanding performance as the only girl in the Losers’ Club and offers a sense of strength and hope among the boys to help them unite as one.

Muschietti finishes off the movie with an extravagant fight scene between Pennywise and the others, testing the loyalty of all the members of the Losers’ Club with grand decision-making and heart-wrenching bittersweet scenes.

After walking out of the movie I found that I couldn’t wait for more. This popular adaptation of Stephen King’s best-selling novel left viewers nostalgic for the ’80s and hopeful for a possible release of part two and three.

“It” leaves the audience terror-stricken but satisfied and wanting to join the Losers’ Club themselves.

[star rating=”5″]