In-Depth Film Review: IT - Narrative, Direction & Impact Analysis

This essay provides a comprehensive review of the horror film "IT," directed by Andy Muschietti and based on Stephen King's novel. The film centers on seven children terrorized by a supernatural entity, Pennywise the clown. The review covers the plot, highlighting the children's search for a missing boy and their encounters with the terrifying clown. It discusses the film's set design and background music, praising its ability to instill fear while also acknowledging its emotionally provocative elements. The review also critiques the film's depiction of abusive themes and strong language. Overall, the essay praises the film's content, graphical representation, direction, and acting while suggesting improvements in handling sensitive content. The review concludes with a recommendation for potential viewers, considering the film's strengths and weaknesses.

Running head: “IT”, THE TERRIFYING CLOWN
“IT”, the Terrifying Clown
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

1“IT”, THE TERRIFYING CLOWN
The name of the movie is “IT”, directed by Andy Muschietti, based on a novel by the
same name published in 1986 by Stephen King. It is an American horror film based on
supernatural incidents. The film centres on the main characters of seven children who are
frightened and terrorized by the predatory entity that has certain supernatural powers to
manipulate things. The main characters are seven children, namely, Jeremy ray Taylor, Sophia
Lillis, Finn Wolfgard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Nicholas Hamilton and
Jackson Robert. It also stars Jaeden Lieberher and Bill Skargard as Bill Denbrough and the
Dancing clown.
The plot revolves around the search hunt of the little brother George, Bill; his elder
brother gives his little brother a paper sailboat. After sailing the paper boat on a rainy day, the
brother goes missing and the director introduces the character called Pennywise, the clown.
However, Bill and his friends find out one day about the little brother and suspect it to be
somewhere near the place called Barrens. He investigates along with his friends to find out about
the missing where they encounter supernatural and terrifying incidents in their life. Marsh,
another girl joins the groups and forms a group called the “The losers club”. They go on search
mission for George and discover that it is the clown who is manipulating all of them and they all
are trapped by this clown name Pennywise.
The best part of the movie is the set design and the background music. The movie easily
instills fear in the mind of the viewers and leaves with a horrifying experience of clown and
predatory entities. It succeeds both in horrifying the audience, however it is emotionally
provocative. It is not a typical horror film; rather it has some potential for being extremely scary
at times.

2“IT”, THE TERRIFYING CLOWN
However, what I did not like about the movie was the representation of the sexually abusive
father and the portrayal of children in extreme abusive way. The movie contains strong and
abusive language which might give an impression of absurdity to the sensitive viewers.
The quality of the film is commendable. The content of the movie has good depth and the
graphical representation is praiseworthy. The story has been very engaging and interesting.
Direction and casting of the film is engaging too. The acting skills portrayed by the children
were praiseworthy. However, the movie could be made more appealing by reducing the number
of abusive language and the sexual content. The language should be made milder and
appropriate for the audience and number of scenes involving the sexual content can be reduced.