By Calgary Maez

As if it wasn’t terrifying enough to watch a killer clown terrorize a group of kids in a small town, you can now watch them be terrorized as adults and deal with that trauma all over again. “IT Chapter Two” is the climactic film to Stephen King’s novel “IT” and pits the Loser’s club against Pennywise. 

The one challenge that presented itself was to find actors that could successfully portray the kids as adults. This is the films strongest piece because not only do the adults act exactly like their younger counterparts, but some even look like them! It’s impressive how well the actors perform in their roles, especially Bill Hader. The only one that felt slightly off was Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh. It’s not that she does a bad job — she is a phenomenal actress — but refer back to the first installment, Bev was a carefree, rebellious girl, which wasn’t translated to her adult character. This is especially true when you see the kids in certain flashback scenes. 

If you loved the first film, you’ll likely leave the theater satisfied once again. 

What makes “IT Chapter Two” unique as a horror film is the comedic relief that is sprinkled among the horror and scares. There are several hilarious moments throughout the film that were done very well. Even though it’s meant to be a horror film, the comedy lets you connect with the characters more and makes you root for them. 

It’s a breath of fresh air for the horror genre because the film doesn’t rely on the cliché horror tropes that are present in most blockbuster films. But when those horrific scenes play, they leave you on the edge of your seat. The film does a better job with its horror elements than the first film and makes you fear Pennywise even more. 

Without getting too much into spoiler territory, there are some decisions made by the filmmakers that didn’t work in the film. There were a couple of twists that didn’t pay off well, and even some that probably would have been best left out. While there are some minor gripes about the film, it makes you scratch your head a bit when really thinking about it and trying to make sense of it. Not only that, but the film feels too long with the run time coming in at 2 hours and 50 minutes. The first installment is one of those films where you can just pop it in and enjoy, but this one feels like you have to set some time aside and really be in the mood to watch. 

Overall, “It Chapter Two” is a solid sequel and good conclusion to the franchise. The film has amazing acting performances, hilarious comedic and horrific scenes, good visual effects and an overall decent conclusion. Some of the lackluster twists and the long run time holds the film back a bit, but if you were to watch both the first film and this one back to back, it would be a solid story to experience. 

Poster Courtesy of @ItChapterT_wo