Everyone’s favourite malignant clown, pennywise, is back in It: Chapter Two – the conclusion to the 2017 reimagining of the iconic Stephen King novel.
This time around the kids who defeated Pennywise in the first installment have all grown up and moved on, save for Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) who remains in Derry as the town librarian.
But you certainly can’t keep a good clown down and 27 years after his besting at the hands of the ‘Losers Club’ Pennywise slinks back out of the drain and viola! Kids start disappearing again.
Making good on a promise they made all those years ago, The Losers club reunite back in their hometown confronting their own deepest fears and personal demons as they prepare to do battle with the meanest clown in town.
Should I watch it?
When I read this weighty tome at the tender age of 13, I couldn’t sleep for a week. The way Stephen King built a sense of tension and dread in those pages is something that is far from being captured here, the first installment and indeed the 1990 miniseries.
That being said, this is by no means a bad film, it’s just not particularly scary.
Sure, there are a few jump scares and Bill Skarsgård again gives a riveting and unsettling performance as the iconic clown, but this time around director Andy Maschietti has retreated from the horror somewhat in favour of ramping up the psychological, introspective drama.
Maschietti has also paid due deference to the source material too reintroducing ashockingly confronting homophobic attack in the film’s program that was deemed too full-on for the 1990 Tim Curry miniseries.
In fact, this scene was one of the most horrific in the film.
The whole thing is a relatively satisfying conclusion to the first installment with a solid ensemble cast including Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader
3 out of 5 stars
Release Date: In cinemas now
Running Time: 169 minutes
Cast: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Bill Skarsgård
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