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MLU

MLU

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By no means am I a big horror genre fan. It's never been entertaining for me, but I loved the book and the original film. I took my niece to see this one and it was great. It doesn't follow the original movie's non-linear storytelling and flashbacks. Instead it occurs entirely during the Losers childhood and sets things up for additional films. After the huge opening weekend, there's no way that they choose not to do more.

As a horror movie, I think it misses. There are some nice "boo" moments, but it's not really what I would expect in a horror movie. There is a moment with the little brother that's pretty horrifying, but that's it. Dark, creepy, intense in spots, but the humor and nostalgia really offsets the horror aspect. It's less Saw and more Stranger Things. Coincidentally, Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) is hilarious in it. Skarsgaard is a good Pennywise, but he's not Tim Curry.
 
Yes, good movie, but not scary at all. More "stranger things" than all out scare fest I was expecting. Tim Curry was a much scarier Pennywise IMHO
 
Not a horror fan, at all. I had nightmares just from the previews with the creepy clown face in the sewer. :covri::covri::covri:

It's amazing how well horror movies do at the box office and how popular they are. Just not my thing, even the ones that are well done. I am a weenie, I hate being scared.

The ones that really creeped me out as a kid were the one with devils in them. Rosemary's Baby, the Exorcist and the one with the creepy kid Damien (The Omen) all gave me nightmares. :covri:
 
Saw it last night and loved it. Might be the best Stephen King adaptation. I was super impressed with all the kids. They had to carry the movie and every one of them did a damn fine job with their roles. Some stellar casting and directing there. In fact, they were *so* good that it kind of gives me a bit of concern about Chapter 2 when (not if, after these OW numbers) it gets made: finding adults that will be nearly that engaging to watch.

I agree that this isn't necessarily the best example of a "horror movie" in terms of scares, and despite great word of mouth I heard a few gore hound types at my screening grumbling about that aspect. But this is also a coming of age story and a story about alienation and friendship. So while the scares may have been lacking, this movie hands down had better character moments, acting, etc. than just about any horror movie you'll find (and I say that as a person who loves horror.). And Bill Skarsgard was great as Pennywise. Very nice spin on the character.
 
MLU said:
By no means am I a big horror genre fan.
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I feel the need to separate books and movies in this respect. Books have enough between the horror in the way of character development to make you actually care about them and that adds to the tension of the horror. King in particular is fantastic at that and it is why I have always been a fan of the horror book genre but rarely the movie genre. It sounds like this movie brings that across.
 
Zack Lee said:
I feel the need to separate books and movies in this respect. Books have enough between the horror in the way of character development to make you actually care about them and that adds to the tension of the horror. King in particular is fantastic at that and it is why I have always been a fan of the horror book genre but rarely the movie genre. It sounds like this movie brings that across.
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It definitely succeeds in adapting what King is best at and what was best about the book.

I don't really view the "not scary" thing as a complaint. The book never "scared" me. It's a book about fear. The kids are fearful. What you see manifest is what they find scary, it's not necessarily designed to scare the reader or audience. And in the end it's a story about conquering and mastering fear anyway. Pennywise even explains in the book that the reason it prefers to feed on children is because their fears are easier to embody and visualize whereas adults have complex and abstract fears (It basically "seasons" its meals with fear, finding the more terror they have the more delicious they are). So you're really looking at the idea of what kids would find scary.
 
Sun Wukong said:
Saw it last night and loved it. Might be the best Stephen King adaptation. I was super impressed with all the kids. They had to carry the movie and every one of them did a damn fine job with their roles. Some stellar casting and directing there. In fact, they were *so* good that it kind of gives me a bit of concern about Chapter 2 when (not if, after these OW numbers) it gets made: finding adults that will be nearly that engaging to watch.

I agree that this isn't necessarily the best example of a "horror movie" in terms of scares, and despite great word of mouth I heard a few gore hound types at my screening grumbling about that aspect. But this is also a coming of age story and a story about alienation and friendship. So while the scares may have been lacking, this movie hands down had better character moments, acting, etc. than just about any horror movie you'll find (and I say that as a person who loves horror.). And Bill Skarsgard was great as Pennywise. Very nice spin on the character.
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Casting anyone other than Amy Adams as Beverly will be a disappointment. The Clark Kent/Lois Lane exchange between her and the pharmacist was a great and in that moment, she looked exactly like Amy Adams.
 
Sun Wukong said:
It definitely succeeds in adapting what King is best at and what was best about the book.

I don't really view the "not scary" thing as a complaint. The book never "scared" me. It's a book about fear. The kids are fearful. What you see manifest is what they find scary, it's not necessarily designed to scare the reader or audience. And in the end it's a story about conquering and mastering fear anyway. Pennywise even explains in the book that the reason it prefers to feed on children is because their fears are easier to embody and visualize whereas adults have complex and abstract fears (It basically "seasons" its meals with fear, finding the more terror they have the more delicious they are). So you're really looking at the idea of what kids would find scary.
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that is an interesting position I had not considered. I read the book when I was 12 or 13 which explains not only why I found it scary but also why I felt such a connection to the kids. To me one of the scariest aspects was the fact that if you were a kid in the town, your were seemingly screwed because of the "spell" everyone was under making them not see what was going on.
 
MLU said:
By no means am I a big horror genre fan. It's never been entertaining for me, but I loved the book and the original film. I took my niece to see this one and it was great. It doesn't follow the original movie's non-linear storytelling and flashbacks. Instead it occurs entirely during the Losers childhood and sets things up for additional films. After the huge opening weekend, there's no way that they choose not to do more.

As a horror movie, I think it misses. There are some nice "boo" moments, but it's not really what I would expect in a horror movie. There is a moment with the little brother that's pretty horrifying, but that's it. Dark, creepy, intense in spots, but the humor and nostalgia really offsets the horror aspect. It's less Saw and more Stranger Things. Coincidentally, Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) is hilarious in it. Skarsgaard is a good Pennywise, but he's not Tim Curry.
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I felt the same way when I read the book a long time ago. It felt like the horror story was tacked on to the real story which was a coming of age story.
 
Glad to hear that it's done well. It's a really good story and it deserved better than its first interpretation, Curry's performance notwithstanding.

I'm pretty sure I read (Bloody Disgusting, maybe) that the second installment was greenlit even before Opening weekend. I'll try and find a link.
 
My 14 yr old son and 2 of his buddy's talked my 22 yr old niece into taking them to the late viewing on Saturday Night. When I asked him how he liked the the movie he was pretty much.

giphy.gif


He also didn't like the Red Balloon that I left tied to the back of his desk chair yesterday.
 
cpg said:
Glad to hear that it's done well. It's a really good story and it deserved better than its first interpretation, Curry's performance notwithstanding.

I'm pretty sure I read (Bloody Disgusting, maybe) that the second installment was greenlit even before Opening weekend. I'll try and find a link.
Click to expand...



Yes it was always ment as a two part movie.


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