It’s (pun fully intended) that time of year again, and people need a movie to get themselves in the mood. Perhaps you’ve heard of It, the adaption of Stephen King’s famous horror novel directed by Andy Muschietti. Well, I’d be surprised if you hadn’t. It is officially the highest grossing horror movie of all time, surpassing 1973’s The Exorcist.

How does the movie hold up? Well, for the most part, the film was very entertaining. The main highlights for me were the performances from the actors. Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgård, was a standout performance with his terrifying yet silly demeanor. All the child actors gave exceptional performances as well, the standout being Finn Wolfhard as Richie. You may know him as Mike Wheeler from the netflix original series Stranger Things, which also took inspiration from the novel It. He was easily the funniest and most endearing of the kids. These performances, combined with stunning effects and great directing, made an all around very entertaining experience.

Storywise, the plot was nothing we haven’t seen before. Without spoiling too much, the movie is about a group of kids, all of them unique in different ways, who form the stereotypical group of bullied outcast teens. They team up to battle bullies, share adventures, and find themselves as people. It’s all the usual, though with a very, very dark twist.

The biggest problem I found with the movie was the very erratic tone. While watching the movie, there were many times where I would be laughing at a joke one moment and suddenly be scared by Pennywise running towards the camera the next. I’m not sure if this was intentional by the director and writers, but the sense of what genre of film I was watching was very blurred. The filmed walked a grey line between supernatural horror and coming of age comedy.

While I haven’t seen the original 1990 It tv movie, my friend has told me that 2017’s It was far scarier, though was less comedic. This is certainly true. Tim Curry’s Pennywise in 1990 acted like a real clown, making jokes, laughing, and teasing his victims, unlike Skarsgård’s more demented, terrifying clown.

Overall, I do belive this movie is worth watching, whether Halloween or not. In a dark theater or with the lights turned off when the movie gets a home release, it’ll definitely be a fun watch.