I think "It" is one of the best short horror stories of all time. 

A kid loses his boat down a gutter, runs to catch it, and sees a clown hiding in the drain. The clown and the kid speak, and the kid relaxes enough to reach for the boat... and he's killed by the clown, who's revealed to be a monster. 

That's great! It's simple. It has an understandable protagonist and a horrifying and yet unclear villain. We know something is wrong, and it builds the tension of the moment excellently. Such a satisfying experience. 

...

What's that?

You're saying there's more to this story beyond this one scene?

This is actually just the opening to a 1,138 page book? As well as 3 hour two part miniseries from the 90's? And there's a new movie out now that's 2 hours and fifteen minutes?

But surely, the longer story just extends the terrifying nature of the opening scene, right? It doesn't just become a muddled mess of nonsense, baffling tonal shifts, irritating characters, and overblown attempts to be creepy, right?

Oh. That's exactly what the story turns into. 

...

I have a suspicion that the first scene is the only reason people think It is any good. It is the only scene with a legitimate threat to a character.

Since when did horror films about a supernatural figure just messing with the main characters instead of killing them suddenly become good? Does the clown need to feed on the kids fears, or does it literally need to eat the kids? It says it does both. But are both necessary? Does it survive by having the children float in its underground lair, or does it literally need to eat them? Are all my questions explained by the existence of a giant space turtle.

I never thought Pennywise was scary beyond that first scene. He just charges at the camera and screams. Why is he wasting his time doing stuff that would only scare a watching audience? I never felt like any of the main kids were in danger. At the end Pennywise literally has his mouth wrapped around the head of one of the kids. He could just bite down and kill the kid, but he doesn't... 

Do people think that good horror is making everything more dramatic? Imagine if you were walking around an abandoned hospital at night. Which of these scenarios would be more scary: if there was no music and all you heard was your footsteps as you gazed into the darkness. Or if there was some loud dramatic action music playing as you ran ten feet to the exit and slammed the door. 

My main issue with It was the sound design and the music. Everything was overblown. A book being placed on a table became a gunshot. Characters calmly walking to a sewer gate became an intense chase scene. A clown dancing became a demon moving in fast motion with annoying distorted carnival music that nullified any initial creepy effect. 

Am I being too harsh? I did enjoy three moments in this film: the first was the opening scene. The second was a moment where Pennywise walked over to a kid crouching in a corner (because he did this great tilting walk that managed to be funny and creepy at the same time) The third was the design of the painting monster, but just because it looked like a Junji Ito drawing ⬇️

I suppose three good moments are enough for some people. But I don't think I'm going to remember this movie. It's a low grade horror film that people think is good because of the large push in marketing, the brand recognition, and the simple horror of the opening scene. 

But the truth is that the scene with the clown in the sewer isn't the opening scene of the film. There's a sequence before where Georgie goes into his own basement, is scared for some reason, and looks around.

But nothing happens in the first scene in basement. It's just a waste of time, money, and effort. 

⭐️⭐️