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IT - Official Trailer 1

E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
I could care less about the jump scares. I'm in it for the relationship between the kids. If this movie has good writing to make that work then you can do whatever horror trope you want.
 
M

mariachi507

Member
Fancy Clown said:
It's Nightmare on Elm Street by way of the Conjuring in terms of content and execution.
Click to expand...

That was my main concern from seeing the trailers. Not to say that I thought the movie looked bad, just using the same type of filmmaking that I feel holds movies like the Conjuring and it's sequel back. It sounds like ITs worth a watch, but I was hoping for a little bit more than that. I guess I'll find out for myself here soon.

Nice review.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
lunchtoast said:
Fancy Clown, how many bum rushes can we expect in this film? Trailers show 2 instances I believe.
Click to expand...

Quite a few more than 2

ElBoxyBrown said:
I could care less about the jump scares. I'm in it for the relationship between the kids. If this movie has good writing to make that work then you can do whatever horror trope you want.
Click to expand...

The scenes when they're all hanging out together are the most amusing in the movie and separate it from other big studio horror stuff.
 
M

MetalliCabombination

Member
That scene where the balloon floats into the class room is incredible. Wish the movie was more like that.
They know theres a thread, they know its after them, they know there jack shit they can do to a balloon thatll make them feel better. Theres no target you hit to eliminate the problem and it stays there for as long as it wants. Just great at creating tension.
 
B

Busty

Banned
This thread was started over a month ago and is still going strong. 25 pages for just a trailer thread on GAF is a sure fire sign that this film is going to hit.
 
R

rgoulart

Member
Fancy Clown said:
This sort of haunted house ride approach to horror where it's built around telegraphed "scare scenes" that feel like disjointed online short films (think the inspiration shorts for Mama and Lights Out) doesn't affect me much.
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Well, to be honest, that's the book right there. I always said that the book actually seems like a collection of short stories involving Derry, IT and some character(s) connected by the Losers Club. If they took this approach, they were just following the book.

Take for instance Mike Hanlon's encounter with IT in the abandoned factory, where IT shows up in the form of Rodan. That whole chapter could be a short story on it's own.
 
G

Garlador

Member
rgoulart said:
Well, to be honest, that's the book right there. I always said that the book actually seems like a collection of short stories involving Derry, IT and some character(s) connected by the Losers Club. If they took this approach, they were just following the book.

Take for instance Mike Hanlon's encounter with IT in the abandoned factory, where IT shows up in the form of Rodan. That whole chapter could be a short story on it's own.
Click to expand...
As I'm reading the book currently, it does feel like a "kitchen sink" approach to horror. Every character gets their scenes and rarely are they thematically similar. Some time is spent with the kids even wondering how their encounters are connected and if that even connects to the kid killings. The rules of the creature are nebulous and ill-explained, how bullets won't faze it but sneezing powder can stop it, how it haunts some places more than others, how the orange pompoms are the only visual that connects its appearances.

And ultimately the small pictures form the larger picture, but on their own they are almost stand-alone horror vignettes sandwiched between the kids bonding and adult reunions.
 
Z

zeemumu

Member
Garlador said:
As I'm reading the book currently, it does feel like a "kitchen sink" approach to horror. Every character gets their scenes and rarely are they thematically similar. Some time is spent with the kids even wondering how their encounters are connected and if that even connects to the kid killings. The rules of the creature are nebulous and ill-explained, how bullets won't faze it but sneezing powder can stop it, how it haunts some places more than others, how the orange pompoms are the only visual that connects its appearances.

And ultimately the small pictures form the larger picture, but on their own they are almost stand-alone horror vignettes sandwiched between the kids bonding and adult reunions.
Click to expand...

I know at least one of those is explained (the bullets and the sneezing powder) but generally, the rules and origins of King's antagonists aren't explained.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
To be honest, I kind was hoping for a bit of a vignette style story, showing each kid's experiences and home life, stuff with the town, with the overarching theme of the kids meeting and coming together. Given the large cast and how each individual story is pretty important, I think trying to do a traditional narrative would lose a big part of what makes IT's story interesting.

So if the movie is like that, that might work in its favor as an adaptation
 
N

nhlducks35

Member
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/6won5b/just_caught_a_screening_of_it/

*Nothing too spoilery IMO, but just FYI*




As someone who usually enjoys Stephen King but hasn't read the book or seen the Tim Curry miniseries, I wasn't sure what to expect from this one.
The audience reaction spoke for itself. It was one of the best theatrical experiences I've had in a while - everyone was laughing and screaming, sometimes in the same scene. The kids were all pretty good, even if some were underused, but Mike from Stranger Things absolutely stole the show as the group's raunchy smartass Richie.
Good mix of jump scares and unsettling dread (the show playing on the TV gives me goosebumps just thinking about it). Pennywise is appropriately horrifying with a twitchiness in his movements that never failed to creep me out, and the special effects were effective without being too over-the-top.
The two-hour running time meant they had to paint in broad strokes, which you can definitely tell as characters like Mike and Stan are barely fleshed out beyond "black kid" and "Jewish kid." But it also kept things moving and didn't get bogged down in mythology.
Overall I'd recommmend it, especially in a packed theater on a Friday or Saturday night. Refreshingly fun movie experience after a pretty "blah" summer.
Click to expand...

I was at a screening as well tonight (Washington, DC) and while I'm not praising the film as highly as the OP here, it was a solid film. The acting from the main children was the best part for me. Some scenes of them appropriately reminded of Stand By Me a bit. I was surprised by how good the all were. Richie almost steals the show and steals quite a couple of scenes.
I wish we had gotten more scenes of Pennywise as it felt a bit lacking here. And the CGI used is...pretty meh to me. I also concur on not getting enough of Mike and Stan.
Not many of the jump scares really worked for me so I wish they had gone all in on the creepy atmosphere, which we really only got small moments of.
Click to expand...
 
R

RumbleHumble

Banned
Fancy Clown said:
Here are my thoughts on the movie (no spoilers):

There's something very wrong with Derry, and it's not just the thing that looks like a clown. Is it a malignant presence within its people? Is it the place itself? History is brought up frequently as an important element of the plot, but IT never feels all that interested in exploring its most interesting narrative conceit beyond perfunctory exposition. It doesn't seem all that interested in a cohesive narrative structure either, and its attempts at using the characters as mouthpieces for its themes are...cumbersome, to say the least. No, IT's interests really lie in making a gang of losers you enjoy watching, and in throwing a barrage of horrific vignettes assaultive enough to make a crowded theater lose their collective shit. If my crowded preview screening was evidence enough, it succeeded handily in those aims.

The cast of young actors they assembled are clearly capable of being a likeable ensemble. Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things fame has already proven himself on the small screen, and he gets all the best laughs here as the mouthy Richie. But besides their surface level ticks, the losers never really felt like characters to me. They have a lot of banter and the occasional tender moment, but while the movie takes its sweet time setting this gang up, in doing so it never bothers to tell us much about them beyond their surface ticks. That's because, much like The Conjuring series, IT treats many of its "scare" scenes as almost stand-alone sequences, that really less on eerie tension and more on grating noises and toothy creatures bum rushing the camera. That's not to say that neither the gang nor the scares work, because the best moments of the film come from some unexpected stylistic jolts as the group bonds, capturing their outsider status and endearing them to us at the same time, and the funhouse approach to horror leads to some really enjoyable sequences that are impressive not necessarily because of their craft, but in the gleefulness in which it chains together gruesome horrors in relentless fashion. The best compliment I can give the film is that at some point it flashes by a cinema marquee advertising a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel, and IT would feel right at home in that series (and not as one of the worse entries).

And of course I have to mention Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise. His performance has already garnered the lion's share of prerelease attention and it's not for nothing. His slobbering, gutterly gleeful take on the clown makes for a worthy mascot for the film, and though he doesn't get a lot of screen time he clearly makes the most of every minute.

Ultimately IT's heart is in the right place and will likely lead many an audience member to laugh and squeal as they sit through this haunted house ride of a movie. But I can't help but imagine what might have been if it spent less effort trying to get immediate and predictable reactions from a crowd, and more effort crafting a nightmare that lingers and festers in the dark spaces of your head like the thing that haunts Derry. Less in your face and more in the gutter. It's certainly good weekend fun, but a 27 year burn this is not.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the write-up and subsequent impressions. While it sounds more disposable than I was hoping, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I'm glad that, generally speaking, it still sounds pretty damn scary.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
I wonder if those impressions are including It's other forms as Pennywise or just considering the evil clown stuff.

In fact, does this movie dive into that aspect of It, or just mainly focus on Pennywise?
 
T

Timu

Member
Fancy Clown said:
Here are my thoughts on the movie (no spoilers):

There's something very wrong with Derry, and it's not just the thing that looks like a clown. Is it a malignant presence within its people? Is it the place itself? History is brought up frequently as an important element of the plot, but IT never feels all that interested in exploring its most interesting narrative conceit beyond perfunctory exposition. It doesn't seem all that interested in a cohesive narrative structure either, and its attempts at using the characters as mouthpieces for its themes are...cumbersome, to say the least. No, IT's interests really lie in making a gang of losers you enjoy watching, and in throwing a barrage of horrific vignettes assaultive enough to make a crowded theater lose their collective shit. If my crowded preview screening was evidence enough, it succeeded handily in those aims.

The cast of young actors they assembled are clearly capable of being a likeable ensemble. Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things fame has already proven himself on the small screen, and he gets all the best laughs here as the mouthy Richie. But besides their surface level ticks, the losers never really felt like characters to me. They have a lot of banter and the occasional tender moment, but while the movie takes its sweet time setting this gang up, in doing so it never bothers to tell us much about them beyond their surface ticks. That's because, much like The Conjuring series, IT treats many of its "scare" scenes as almost stand-alone sequences, that really less on eerie tension and more on grating noises and toothy creatures bum rushing the camera. That's not to say that neither the gang nor the scares work, because the best moments of the film come from some unexpected stylistic jolts as the group bonds, capturing their outsider status and endearing them to us at the same time, and the funhouse approach to horror leads to some really enjoyable sequences that are impressive not necessarily because of their craft, but in the gleefulness in which it chains together gruesome horrors in relentless fashion. The best compliment I can give the film is that at some point it flashes by a cinema marquee advertising a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel, and IT would feel right at home in that series (and not as one of the worse entries).

And of course I have to mention Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise. His performance has already garnered the lion's share of prerelease attention and it's not for nothing. His slobbering, gutterly gleeful take on the clown makes for a worthy mascot for the film, and though he doesn't get a lot of screen time he clearly makes the most of every minute.

Ultimately IT's heart is in the right place and will likely lead many an audience member to laugh and squeal as they sit through this haunted house ride of a movie. But I can't help but imagine what might have been if it spent less effort trying to get immediate and predictable reactions from a crowd, and more effort crafting a nightmare that lingers and festers in the dark spaces of your head like the thing that haunts Derry. Less in your face and more in the gutter. It's certainly good weekend fun, but a 27 year burn this is not.
Click to expand...
Yeah there was definitely going to be flaws with this one(some unexpected even), but it does sound like it may be a good time though. I should had known Bill would nail the role very well.

Also, how gory is this movie?

Samus_Aran said:
From Slashfilm. Here is the page and the quote.

"We’ll be back with even more early buzz when the review embargo for the movie lifts on September 5."

http://www.slashfilm.com/stephen-kings-it-early-buzz/
Click to expand...
Next Tuesday is critics then, was hoping for later this week, but that's ok as long as it reviews fine.

Another impression from that link:

"I saw an advanced screening in DC last night. Really enjoyed it as it just keep giving you more and more. The pacing was great because it wasn't overwhelming but there wasn't a real period of the movie where I felt things were dull. It also didn't feel like the thrill was ham fisted in the sense that all of those moments made sense within the context of the movie. Also there was a surprising amount of humor in the movie, which I really enjoyed as it again helped the pacing and gave the audience a break for a moment.

I'm pretty pleased with it overall. Definitely more thriller than horror but I think that's a good thing.

My GF also won a poster for a raffle at the theater, and everyone that attended received a t shirt. It was an awesome night and I think I will see it again."
 
Majmun

Majmun

Member
So much positive media. I can't wait to see this.

Almost finished reading the book. I'm pumped

Going to watch this with a group of 8 people. We never do this...but IT marked us for life when we were young. We're doing this together lol
 
M

Miles X

Member
Majmun said:
So much positive media. I can't wait to see this.

Almost finished reading the book. I'm pumped

Going to watch this with a group of 8 people. We never do this...but IT marked us for life when we were young. We're doing this together lol
Click to expand...

Same, going with a group of 12+
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
Honestly, Mike and Stan don't get that much characterization in the books as children and even then, only Mike gets character work as an adult. That's a problem with the book too as characters are thrown by the wayside.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
wayside

You're right, Stan Uris isn't really much of a character in either the 50s or the 80s, and Mike Hanlon, for as important as he is in the 80s, is just kinda... there in the 50s.
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
So I read some spoilers I'm not particularly happy about. One seems like it might completely change the second movie. Nobody seems to be talking about it which is sort of weird aside from just one Reddit post.
Bobby Roberts said:
wayside
Click to expand...
oops tired

The first scene though with Mike being chased by Henry is great though. Hopefully that's in there in some form.
 
K

Kyleripman

Member
Jarmel said:
So I read some spoilers I'm not particularly happy about. One seems like it might completely change the second movie. Nobody seems to be talking about it which is sort of weird aside from just one Reddit post.
Click to expand...

I don't like the sound of that, but I'm trying to avoid any impressions and spoilers for the time being. Only a week to go.
 
R

RuinerPrime

Member
Jarmel said:
Honestly, Mike and Stan don't get that much characterization in the books as children and even then, only Mike gets character work as an adult. That's a problem with the book too as characters are thrown by the wayside.
Click to expand...

And I'd say that Bev & Ben have less to do as adults in the 80's. They were my favorites kid sections in the book. I actually like Mike in the 50's, especially his interactions and stories with his dad, who was one of the few good adults/parents in Darry.
 
T

Timu

Member
Yet another impression from the reddit link above:

"I saw the same screening. Can't speak for OP, but I promise I'm not a shill. Got the tickets from the DC subreddit.

It was good. I only read part of the book a couple of years ago, and I'm not usually into horror, so I may not be the best person to be judging something like this. That said, I would have preferred it as a series because a lot of the characters seemed glossed over or thin... but that's what happens when you try to fit a huge book into a movie (even two movies). Pretty creepy/scary (although a fair amount of reliance on jump scares). Nice photography, and the actors were impressive.

The movie definitely wasn't shit, and OP was accurate in his description of the audience reaction. To be fair, some of that might be because people were just excited to be in an early screening. But I'd still say that this was a good and well-recieved film."
 
Astral Dog

Astral Dog

Member
Fancy Clown said:
Here are my thoughts on the movie (no spoilers):

There's something very wrong with Derry, and it's not just the thing that looks like a clown. Is it a malignant presence within its people? Is it the place itself? History is brought up frequently as an important element of the plot, but IT never feels all that interested in exploring its most interesting narrative conceit beyond perfunctory exposition. It doesn't seem all that interested in a cohesive narrative structure either, and its attempts at using the characters as mouthpieces for its themes are...cumbersome, to say the least. No, IT's interests really lie in making a gang of losers you enjoy watching, and in throwing a barrage of horrific vignettes assaultive enough to make a crowded theater lose their collective shit. If my crowded preview screening was evidence enough, it succeeded handily in those aims.
.
Click to expand...
Awww honestly dissapointing, i was hoping for all the contrary, the Derry town atmosphere had to be perfect but doesn't seem that was their focus at all.
Worse than Stranger Things (ugh) also deflates my hype a lot.but still expecting a solid horror movie
ChubbyHuggs said:
I have that copy and I let a coworker borrow it... He never returned it.
Click to expand...
Uuuuu spooky
 
Astral Dog

Astral Dog

Member
Maybe it could have worked bettet as an HBO(!) series :D

But this will give a big budget to watch on the theatre with family/girlfriend/boyfriend/friends
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
You should probably watch the film first before you start entertaining hypotheticals as to how whatever it is you haven't seen could have been done better.
 
M

MagnaderAlpha

Member
Sub Boss said:
Maybe it could have worked bettet as an HBO(!) series :D

But this will give a big budget to watch on the theatre with family/girlfriend/boyfriend/friends
Click to expand...

No "maybe", it WOULD have been better as an HBO series. The book of It is a MONSTER of a novel, and if you want enough "time" spent on developing not only the characters, but the town of Derry as the novel did, that's just not something you CAN do with a movie or miniseries. There will always be sacrifices and something left out. At least with enough time to tell the story (say and each episode is an hour long, and there is 8 to 10 episodes per season), you go get the most out of it.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
I read a couple interviews with the director, and he mentioned that one of the first things they did to the script when he got on the project was restore
IT's' shape-shifting ability. I haven't read any of Fukunaga's scripts, did he just keep IT as Pennywise? Because that would be a pretty bad decision.
 
G

Gozer the Gozerian

Member
GhaleonEB said:
I read a couple interviews with the director, and he mentioned that one of the first things they did to the script when he got on the project was restore
IT's' shape-shifting ability. I haven't read any of Fukunaga's scripts, did he just keep IT as Pennywise? Because that would be a pretty bad decision.
Click to expand...

Yup, the Fukunaga script I read was pretty devoid of the shape-shifting elements.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Some specific questions for those who have seen it

- How is the friendship between the Loser's Club handled? That is, and should be, the core of the story; King did such a masterful job in the book at showing their growing bond and it really made the dread, tension, and threat of IT feel that much more potent
- Is IT done well? I always thought IT was just Pennywise the clown, but the book showed me that the creature is so much more than that. Hoping the movie does the creature justice
- Is the whole "Derry is a terrifying broken place and has been so for a long long time" part of the movie? After reading the book, I felt King's portrayal made Derry the best "town with dark secrets" I've seen in fiction, the ultimate American small town version of Lovecraftian hamlets or haunted folktale village
- Does the update to the 80s fit the story well?
 
T

Timu

Member
This youtuber has seen it and said he loved it, no spoilers as well. Also says the projector scene is amazing, I really want to see how that goes down.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
More_Badass said:
Some specific questions for those who have seen it

- How is the friendship between the Loser's Club handled? That is, and should be, the core of the story; King did such a masterful job in the book at showing their growing bond and it really made the dread, tension, and threat of IT feel that much more potent
- Is IT done well? I always thought IT was just Pennywise the clown, but the book showed me that the creature is so much more than that. Hoping the movie does the creature justice
- Is the whole "Derry is a terrifying broken place and has been so for a long long time" part of the movie? After reading the book, I felt King's portrayal made Derry the best "town with dark secrets" I've seen in fiction, the ultimate American small town version of Lovecraftian hamlets or haunted folktale village
- Does the update to the 80s fit the story well?
Click to expand...

No real spoilers in here, but I'll tag my answers anyway:
-
It's handled pretty well. Some of my favorite scenes are when they're just hanging out together and not worrying about the IT stuff. But most of them being kind of one note and the mediocre writing made some of the dramatic beats fall flat for me. Their comedic sides are their most engaging aspect.
-
Yeah, IT is more than just a clown here and it has some fun with the variations it takes
-
They definitely touch upon the troubled history of Derry and it's a fairly important to the plot, but it isn't explored as much as I'd like or engrained in an interesting way thematically. But there are a few expository scenes touching upon the bad shit that's happened there.
-
Yeah, I thought the 80's setting felt fine for the story. They have a lot of fun with the pop culture of the time in regards to the soundtrack.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
I'll be seeing it Tuesday night at the press screening (not writing the review though, so I'll probably be in here later that night bullshitting at length instead of busting ass trying to turn a review around)
 
E

enigmatic_alex44

Whenever a game uses "middleware," I expect mediocrity. Just see how poor TLOU looks.
Bobby Roberts said:
I'll be seeing it Tuesday night at the press screening (not writing the review though, so I'll probably be in here later that night bullshitting at length instead of busting ass trying to turn a review around)
Click to expand...

Is this a good movie even for a non-horror fan? Not really into the genre but the buzz and hype have me... intrigued.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
enigmatic_alex44 said:
Is this a good movie even for a non-horror fan? Not really into the genre but the buzz and hype have me... intrigued.
Click to expand...

If it's as good as it's supposed to be, then you should check it out sugarless of genre.

At the heart of the book is a very good story about friendship and growing up, set in a vividly drawn small town. That's the foundation. The horror elements are woven in. If the film mirrors the book at all - and it's sounding like they got that right - then it's going to be a good movie. Might be a good gateway horror film.
 
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