Dead Man's Wire

Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, Cary Elwes, Myha'la, Colman Domingo, Al Pacino, John Robinson, Kelly Lynch, Todd Gable
Running Time: 106 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)   

During Gus Van Sant's biographical crime thriller Dead Man's Wire, a voiceover declares that holding onto anger is the equivalent of drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. But by film's end, we're left wondering whether that's true or the real life antagonist actually did get the satisfaction he sought. Eerily prescient, it focuses on this man with a grudge and the extreme measures he takes against those he thinks wronged him. And though his intended victim isn't around for the consequences, he finds a suitable replacement, leading to an unusual standoff that sends the cops and media into a frenzy. 

Initially, the police want this abductor to feel as if he's receiving the attention he so desperately craves, hoping he'll drop his guard long enough for them to go in for the kill. But what happens when the public chooses to view him as a sympathetic figure screwed over by a soulless corporation? With a compelling tale like his, it's no surprise many can relate, enabling them to somehow see past whatever violence he's capable of, as scary as that seems.    

On Tuesday, February 8th, 1977 in Indianapolis, a high strung, mustachioed man named Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) arrives at the Meridian Mortage Company building for an appointment with CEO M.L. Hall (Al Pacino). Entering with a sling on his arm and a long box, an agitated Tony makes a scene when informed M.L. is vacationing in Florida. His son and company President Richard (Dacre Montgomery) intervenes, agreeing to meet with him. But once inside the office, Tony removes a shotgun from the box, wiring it to Richard's neck and rigging it to fire should he attempt to escape. 

Believing the Halls cheated him out of money on a land development deal, Tony calls this abduction into the police himself, hoping to expose the Halls. With a wire wrapped around his neck, Richard's taken out of the building and onto the street by Tony, attracting the attention of Detective Michael Grable (Cary Elwes) and TV news reporter Linda Page (Myha'la), who's looking to raise her profile with a big story. As the FBI closes in and Richard's life hangs in the balance, Tony uses local radio DJ Fred Temple (Colman Domingo) to send his message to the masses. But with time running out, he wants money and an apology, or the shotgun goes off.

Aside from Skarsgård's genuinely unsettling performance and a remarkable sense of time and place, the film's greatest asset is how quickly it gets down to business, letting the smaller details pour out as this situation escalates. From the start, there's something off enough about this guy that the pressure's on to give him what he wants, or at least make him think he's getting it. It's also intriguing to watch these opening office scenes with the knowledge that Tony would have been immediately tackled at the front door if this occurred today. But it's the 70's, establishing him as just another irritated client on a Tuesday. 

Viewed through a pre-9/11 lens with no security cams, it's easier to see how Tony pulls this off, his unusual shotgun contraption throwing off authorities as they proceed with heightened caution. All of this gives Tony time to lay out his terms and milk the public's attention while a terrified Richard suffers through the ordeal, his life potentially ending with one sudden move in the wrong direction. 

Montgomery's performance conveys a thinly layered sense of guilt that Richard and his father really screwed this man out of his cash since that's what this company does. Pacino's big scene as M.L. confirms just how little respect he has for his own son, who's essentially a subservient hatchet man. Even with Richard's life on the line, the elder Hall proves too stubborn and entitled to give an inch, frustrating both Tony and the FBI. Pacino's subtle here, never hamming it up as his character comes across completely unaffected and incapable of relinquishing control. 

While Van Sant gets a little heavy handed as he flashes back and forth between TV broadcast recreations and the actual action, tension remains at a fever pitch throughout, delivered in a style intentionally reminiscent of Pacino's Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon. A menacing, unhinged Skarsgård exudes false bravado as the walls close in on Tony, who still plans to walk away scot-free. Domingo also impresses with a nuanced, charismatic turn as the radio DJ caught in the middle of these volatile negotiations. As the only person Tony trusts, if not flat-out idolizes, you'd think using him as a liaison would give the FBI an advantage. And for a while, it does.  

Logic dictates Tony can't get away with this, but his belief he will is what makes him dangerous. The closing title cards revealing the fates of those involved are legitimately surprising, as is the real news footage that appears over the credits. But by depicting the genesis of similar events we'll see play out over the following decades, Dead Man's Wire shows just how easily criminals become celebrities. And while they continue to bask in that adulation and exposure, it still still says as much about us as them.                  

Nosferatu

Director: Robert Eggers
Starring: Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, Adéla Hesová, Milena Konstantinova
Running Time: 132 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)    

On paper, another cinematic Dracula interpretation would seem to be the last thing anyone wants or needs, especially if it happens to be a remake of F.W. Murnau's 1922 indisputable German classic, Noseferatu. And while it's the rare project that risks trampling on sacred ground for film buffs and horror fanatics alike, most can agree that if an updated version has to happen, Robert Eggers is probably the best director for the job. And following The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman, it also feels like the next logical step for a filmmaker who's already proven himself more than capable of handling similar material. 

Given how there are still mainstream moviegoers unfamiliar enough with the original, Eggers now gets the opportunity to put his own stamp on the story without alienating newer audiences or offending purists. And that's just what he does, offering up an unusually distinctive vision that mostly meets those expectations. While an altogether disturbing, grotesque and unpleasant experience to sit through, that's sort of the point, as Eggers delivers on exactly what he sets out to accomplish.  

It's 1838 and the newly married Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) and her realtor husband Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) are living in the German town of Wisburg when he accepts a job from prospective employer Herr Knock (Simon McBurney) to sell off the dilapidated Grünewald Manor estate. Upon Thomas learning the buyer is the mysteriously reclusive Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), a frightened Ellen begs him not to go, realizing this is the same supernatural creature she gave herself to in her youth. But knowing how this opportunity will financially benefit them, he goes, leaving Ellen to stay with wealthy friend Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), his wife Anna (Emma Corrin) and two young daughters. 

Warned by the locals to stay away from Orlok, Thomas arrives at the castle to finalize the sale before becoming suddenly ill in his presence. But the Count rejects his desperate pleas to leave, giving him little choice but to attempt an escape. Meanwhile at Friedrich's, Ellen is suffering from violent seizures, sleepwalking and hallucinations, leading eccentric Swiss scientist and occult expert Albin Eberhart von Franz (Willem Dafoe) to diagnosis her as being under the spell of the demonic, plague carrying vampire Nosferatu (a.k.a. Orlok). As she continues to conceal her connection to the monster, Thomas heads back to Wisburg, but Orlok isn't far behind, planning to claim Ellen as his own, but not before causing unimaginable bloodshed and death. 

After a methodical opening the horror truly begins at this old, cavernous estate when Thomas comes face-to-face with this vampire lurking in the shadows who lets it be known through his foreboding voice and presence that he's not just looking for a good property deal. What Orlok really covets is Ellen, who's not only terrified, but appears to be in no position to stop the potential trap Thomas has walked into.  Rendered helpless under Orlok's spell, Ellen gets little support from the Hardings, specifically a skeptical, patronizing Friedrich who refuses to acknowledge any supernatural component to this at all. 

Friedrich's disbelief reaches new heights with the arrival of Dafoe's scientist, who the actor skillfully plays as something of a loony cross between Dr. Loomis from Halloween and the psychiatrist at the end of Psycho. The film's most repulsive events unfold while Thomas is trapped inside this Transylvanian castle where's he bitten, chased by wolves and unintentionally signs his wife's life away. But once Orlok sets his sights on Ellen, the story enters its creepiest, most exciting territory as he unleashes his plague on Wisburg.

If the first half belongs to an effective Hoult as the hapless husband in way over his head, from that point on Depp is devastating as Ellen, whose traumatic past opens a gateway for destruction. In a vividly unhinged performance that conveys her character's sense of impending doom, she's over-the-top, but appropriately so, leaving no doubt what's at stake. And much like her dad, she has this peculiar onscreen charisma that seems ideally suited to Gothic horror genre. As Orlok, an unrecognizable Skarsgård makes the most of what he's given by conveying the desperate motivations of this damaged beast through what must be pounds of prosthetic makeup. 

Thrilling at times, depressingly hypnotic at others, the film definitely looks beautiful, with Jarin Blaschke's dimly lit cinematography and some visually stunning production design from Craig Lathrop bringing a nightmare to life. Functioning as an homage to the original while still remaining unmistakably his own, Eggers deserves credit for going all out with a cast that looks and feels completely at home in this demonic world, even if it can be an unsettling watch. Though more likely to evoke feelings of respect than outright admiration from some, it won't be difficult for others to embrace this with even fewer reservations.                                                                    

Barbarian

Director: Zach Cregger
Starring: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Matthew Patrick, Richard Brake, Kurt Braunohler, Jaymes Butler, Kate Bosworth, Brooke Dillman, Kate Nichols, Sara Paxton
Running Time: 102 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

There's a clever misdirection in Zach Cregger's Barbarian that'll cause viewers to second guess their original suspicions. It's a jarring transition intended to take the story somewhere exciting and unexpected, and for a while it does, successfully pulling off a reversal that has us on pins and needles. We're eager to see how the scenario plays out, knowing that comes with the hope it can join a handful of horror films released over the past few years that transcend the genre to become something more. But hype can be a movie's worst enemy, and while watching, I couldn't help but wonder whether my reaction would be the same not knowing the enthusiastic response it's already gotten from critics and audiences.

Atmospherically directed and at times genuinely terrifying, it's easy to understand all the praise and even agree with much of it. A lot of that comes early, before the curtain's pulled back with a reveal that's initially mind blowing, until later planting the film in more traditionally familiar territory. It's still delivered exceptionally well, but there's sort of a comedown in realizing it might not be going to those unexplored places after all. Instead, we get an effort more along the lines of The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw remakes, with shades of 1973's The Baby. But even as the frustration of elevated expectations loom large, it's hard to complain about what we do get, which is better made and more rewarding than those titles by a considerable margin. 

When Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) arrives at an Airbnb rental house in a rundown area of Detroit the night before a major job interview, she discovers it's been double-booked and is already being occupied by a man named Keith Toshko (Bill Skarsgård). After they process this awkward dilemma and it's clear she'll have no place to stay, Keith suggests Tess crash there for the night while he sleeps on the couch. Initially suspicious of his nervous demeanor, she reluctantly agrees, as they spend the evening talking and discovering shared interests. 

Despite finding her door mysteriously unlocked during the night, Tess returns to the house the next day after the interview, only to make an unnerving discovery in the basement, where she's then trapped. Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated event on the West Coast, an actor named AJ Gilbride (Justin Long) is about to be fired from an upcoming TV series due to rape allegations from a co-star.  But as a captive Tess fights to stay alive, her chances of survival dwindle when sordid, disturbing details of the home's darkest secrets start to unspool, tracing all the way back to the man who owned the property decades ago.

For the first third of the picture, Cregger orchestrates a clever cat-and-mouse game with the audience when Tess arrives at this house in a dangerous neighborhood, only to find this man there. She's not yet privy to just how awful the area is, mainly because her primary worry is the unexpected guest. And it's this section that proves to be a masterclass in suspense, preying on the instantly relatable conundrum of not knowing how much trust is acceptably safe to put in a complete stranger. Of course, that goes double for a single young woman, and in a great performance, Georgina Campbell conveys every bit of that fear, to the point we can see and sense it in every exchange she has with him, both through voice and body language. Skarsgård's a long way from the evil Pennywise (or is he?), expertly playing Keith with socially awkward, nervous vibes that seem Norman Bates-like on the surface, but could also be read a few different ways. 

Either Keith's a Ted Bundy clone setting his trap or legitimately a nice guy just as uncomfortable about this accidental double booking, if that's what it actually is. When the ice starts to break between them, Tess seems more vulnerable and at ease, causing greater concern for her safety as we never let go of the chance something more sinister is happening. This is all while Skarsgård still manages to simultaneously invoke the feeling that this guy can be trusted and taken at face value, with Cregger triggering the same kind of doubt in viewers that Tess and other women in similar situations experience. 

The film won't again duplicate the heights it reaches when Campbell and Skarsgård initially share the screen, as their characters have an odd, compelling chemistry that can't exactly be defined. It eventually will when we get our answer about Keith, but their scenes are so compelling it's almost impossible not to wish it took up the film's entire running length. As Cregger likely intended, what follows it isn't quite the same, with Tess' excursion into the basement's hidden catacombs and corridors resulting in a claustrophobic sequence that scares in ways similar to 2006's The Descent. 

Whether the reveal of what's in that basement matches all the anticipation is up for debate, but a 1980's flashback featuring Richard Brake as the home's creepy former owner and the injection of Justin Long's AJ do take the story in a wildly different direction. Noticeably cast against type, Long chews into the role of an arrogant, self absorbed TV star (and possible rapist) embroiled in a "Me Too" scandal, giving the actor his most prominent showcase in a while. Seemingly unaware of what he's walking into, AJ is finally forced to reconcile the kind of person he sees himself to be with the one he actually is.

Once Cregger lays all the cards out on the table, you wouldn't be wrong in assuming it creates narrative complications for a premise that started so strong. Some may love the first half, but check out when  last act comes around, even if the reverse could undoubtedly hold true for just as many. But through it all, he still does a fine job consistently maintaining tension and keeping us guessing with his solo directorial debut. So even if it's tempting to consider what could have been, a challenge lies in being able to lay out a path superior to the one Barbarian ultimately succeeds in taking.        

It Chapter Two

Director: Andy Muschietti
Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Bill Skarsgård
Running Time: 170 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

Endings have never been Stephen King's strong suit. This is worth mentioning since It Chapter Two seems to allude to that numerous times with a wink and a nod, as if audiences were already going into Andy Muschietti's sequel to his really great 2017 film adaptation of King's epic novel prepared for disappointment. After all, they've experienced it before, with 1990's underwhelming It TV miniseries having a particularly problematic second half marred by a wretched conclusion. But to lay the blame entirely at King's feet rather than the filmmakers tasked with translating his work through the years, isn't exactly fair.

You need only see The Mist or The Shawshank Redemption to realize how taking creative license with King's material can yield extremely satisfying results that enhance the themes of his storytelling. Muschietti's It was one of the good ones, delivering a Stand By Me meets Stranger Things vibe bolstered by the 80's era setting, perfectly calibrated child performances, and Bill Skarsgård's demonic turn as Pennywise The Clown. Part-horror, part coming-of-age nostalgia, you could call it the quintessential King adaptation in how it streamlines the author's over-indulgences while accenting his strengths.

Chapter Two was always going to be challenging in that it couldn't be a period piece with the same young actors, unless there's a big deviation from the novel preventing the inevitable time jump that sees all the roles recast with adult counterparts. Plus, there's just something about kids at that age being confronted with supernatural horror, just as their imaginations and emotions are already running rampant. Not only does everything seem more important during adolescence, but the stakes just feel higher when pre-teens experience a loss of innocence, forcing them to grow into who they'll eventually become, whether they're ready or not.

Now, we find out exactly who these kids become in a solid, if a little messy, sequel that does a lot right in avoiding many expected pitfalls. It helps that the same director returns with a nearly identical vision, and while it may take viewers a bit to get acclimated to the cast, Muschietti employs a very similar structure that works heavily in its favor, making for an effective, but undeniably overlong experience. But it's a testament to him that the nearly three-hour running time doesn't feel like the drag it so easily could have.

It's 2016 in Derry, Maine when a man is brutally attacked by a gang of homophobic youths at the town's carnival and thrown off a bridge, into the waiting arms of the murderous Pennywise (Skarsgård). After investigating the crime, Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) realizes the clown has returned 27 years later and takes it upon himself to contact childhood friends Bill Denbrough (James McAvoy), Beverly Marsh (Jessica Chastain), Ben Hanscom (Jay Ryan), Richie Tozier (Bill Hader), Eddie Kaspbrak (James Ransone) and Stanley Uris (Andy Bean), summoning them back home to honor the promise they all made in 1989 as members of the Losers' Club to kill the clown if he ever returned.

All but Stan arrive back in Derry, but soon discover they only have partial memories of what occurred over two decades ago. But with Mike's help, everything comes flooding back and they're soon tormented by Pennywise with hallucinations from their own past and visions of the future, even as their tormentor seeks out new victims. Making matters worse is that teen sociopath Henry Bowers (Teach Grant) survived his fall into the well and is out for revenge, having recently escaped the mental hospital where he's been confined for his father's murder. Formulating a plan to stop Pennywise for good, the gang will have to make sacrifices of their own, retracing their steps as kids, and coming face-to-face with the painful memories they'd rather have remain buried. Only then, can they be prepared for what could be their final confrontation with Pennywise.

The film's opening is almost shockingly violent, and a reminder that this was a story that never played it safe or compromised in its first installment, and certainly not now, with the characters having long aged out of childhood. Homophobic attacks and sexual abuse aren't usually the first things that come to mind when considering King's catalogue, and while this entry does seem to be unusually hung up on the former, Muschietti deserves credit again for revolving Pennywise's supernatural reign of terror around the true-to-life challenges his victims face. Like its prequel, it doesn't hold back, again earning an 'R' which admittedly carried more of an impact the first time around with a cast comprised entirely of kids. While the genuine sense of danger, the ear for how the gang talked and felt, and Pennywise's attacks heightened the scare factor of the 2017 film, this seems more like a reunion, or greatest hits compilation of all the scariest story beats and scenes from that outing with a new cast.

The more the action gets going, the better it gets, as after all pleasantries are exchanged and we get a deeper read on the characters, you start to appreciate the tiny details and continuity that link the adult losers club protagonists to their childhood counterparts. Whether it's Bill's guilt over little brother Georgie's death at the hands of Pennnywise, Beverly's abusive upbringing, Ben's impossible crush on her, Richie's inability to fit in, or the long-term consequences of Eddie's terminally overprotective mother.

To its benefit, the narrative is flashback-heavy, cutting back and forth between the past and present, filling in details we weren't previously privy to, which takes some pressure off the new faces to top their predecessors. The biggest surprise is just how much the younger originals are in this, even if some of their scenes carry a visual awkwardness resulting from them having noticeably aged a couple of years. But mostly, it's done well, with each character's 2016 story mirroring the 1989 version, bolstering the unifying the two installments while further linking the chains that connect their traumatic childhood and adult experiences.

If there's one thing everyone knew we needed in this sequel, it was Jessica Chastain stepping in to continue Sophia Lillis' extraordinary work as Beverly. Rarely does a fan casting choice feel so obviously right on every level, and when the possibility of her playing the part suddenly became real, that hook was reason enough to continue. She doesn't disappoint, transforming young Bev's quirks into a darker, more psychologically wounded woman, while still retaining the character's tomboy spirit. In other words, she delivers exactly as predicted, with the added bonus of that uncanny physical resemblance to Lillis. Her and James McAvoy predictably shine, with the latter most registering when he needs to confront guilt-ridden Bill's mental anguish over his responsibility in Georgie's death.

Bill's career as a writer also becomes a clever meta device to reference Stephen King's aforementioned battles with endings, with the author himself even getting in on the joke with one of his more memorable screen cameos. The rest of the cast have varying degrees of success, with Bill Hader channeling the goofy eccentricities younger counterpart Finn Wolfhard brought to Richie and infusing it with an angrier adult sensibility. The bond between Ben and Beverly is revisited, this time with Jay Ryan attempting to project the formally awkward, bullied overweight new kid's insecurities as a handsome, successful architect. This sub-plot, which works better in flashbacks then present-day, should have been deeply affecting, but Ryan's kind of bland opposite Chastain, thus undercutting its impact as the story's big redemptive arc. There's also a distracting exposition dump involving Mike's theories on Pennywise's origins that make little sense and should have been excised entirely.

The cast does gel, just not to the level the kids did in the previous film, causing viewers to possibly readjust their expectations for a sequel already saddled with the burden of having to follow one of the best recent King adaptations. But Muscietti manages to tie things together at the film's most important point, and an extremely long third act where the narrative should be losing steam ends up being its highlight, aided in part by Skarsgård's less present, but still scary, performance as Pennywise and a strangely compelling final showdown wherein the script simultaneously juggles numerous narratives in the past and present. If nothing else, it's actually a well-edited three hours that doesn't leave you with that sinking feeling of disappointment prevalent in so many of the author's multi-part adaptations. Still a far cry from its first chapter, It's second half functions well enough as a companion piece to prove it was a story worth finishing.     

It

Director: Andy Muschietti
Starring: Jaeden Lieberher, Bill Skarsgård, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, Jackson Robert Scott
Running Time: 135 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

The experience you had watching a movie can often far surpass the movie itself, frequently causing confusion between the two. Strangely, such an experience accompanied my early 90's viewing of the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's It. And while I exactly remember the when, why and where, it's more difficult to recall a single thing about the actual movie other than it being overlong and mostly terrible, as the King TV adaptations tended to be. But that second half featuring the child characters as adults was particularly disappointing, sucking whatever entertainment value remained from watching Tim Curry's evil clown wreck havoc in this small Maine town. And while it definitely wasn't scary, it's hard to point to any miniseries of the era that was.

It's fitting to discuss memories and nostalgia when examining the many merits of Andy Muschietti's reimagined vision of It since that's how he makes this interpretation connect. And if there's one thing we've learned about the frequently unadaptable works of Stephen King, it's that you need to find a way in. His mind goes to these strange, weird places, and unless the filmmaker can find a suitable entrance, it can all seem kind of ridiculous. In this case, that door was in front of our faces the whole time: Stand By Me-era King meets 80's Spielberg by way of Stranger Things. At the risk of simplifying it, that's the key, and the rest of the pieces just fall into place.

Anyone doubting the extent of Stranger Things' pop culture stranglehold needn't look any further than It, since this couldn't or wouldn't have unfolded the way it does without that series. But it would all mean nothing if they didn't put in the work and get it right, taking an approach that's exactly appropriate for material that now suddenly feels purposeful, possessing a palpable sense of time and place entirely absent from its predecessor. If someone asks what this is about, you can now actually tell them with a clear conscience. But why bother, when the film does such a magnificent job conveying that all on its own, earning a spot alongside the likes of Stand by Me, Carrie, The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption and Dolores Claiborne on any essential list of the most successful cinematic King adaptations.

It's October 1988 in Derry, Maine when nervously stuttering Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) makes his 7-year-old little brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) a paper sailboat, which he loses down a sewer drain in the middle of a rain storm. While attempting to retrieve it, he comes face-to face with a terrifying clown who calls himself "Pennywise The Dancing Clown" (Bill Skarsgård). After initially earning Georgie's trust, he viciously attacks the boy, dragging him into the sewer, never to be seen again.

Flashforward to the following year and Bill hasn't given hope finding his little brother, despite his parents' and much of the town believing him to be dead. But when there's another mysterious disappearance under similar circumstances, Bill enlists the help of his friends, foul-mouthed Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), asthmatic Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer) and reluctant Stan Uris (Wyatt Oleff), to to go to a local marsh called the Barrens and investigate the possibility Georgie's still alive. While there, they encounter teen bully Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton) and his gang who have been tormenting overweight new kid, Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), whose hours of research in the Derry library has provided the group with more than a few ideas about these child abductions.

Joining them is another Bowers Gang victim, orphaned African American student Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), and the only female member of what eventually becomes "The Losers' Club," tomboy Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), whose rumored promiscuity has also made her a bullying target, even as a smitten Bill and Ben compete for her affections. Soon, the kids all realize they've had visions of the same clown, the sadistic Pennywise, who assumes the appearance of whatever they fear most. And each of them have personal demons to overcome before attempting to stop this unpredictable entity who knows just how to exploit those fears, aiming to resume the reign of terror he wrecks on the children of Derry every 27 years. To beat him they'll have to bravely band together, despite the clown's best efforts to drive them apart.

Freed from many of the creative constraints that hampered previous King horror adaptations, this one rips the band-aid off right away, with a declarative opening sequence that lets you know this It means business. Shot in a washed-out VHS-era haze and backed by an unnerving, foreboding score by Benjamin Wallfisch, an unmistakable atmosphere is established that was certainly missing in the original. An "R" rating isn't necessarily a must for any horror entry, but in this specific case it really bolsters the material, at least due in part to the fact that we're just not used seeing characters this age acting authentically and being terrorized to the degree they are here. Much like Stranger Things and 80's classics that inspired it, the young actors actually look and behave like kids, and among a fairly large cast, each are given distinctive personality traits that equip them differently in dealing with the evil clown.

Muschietti masters what so many previous filmmakers adapting King's work have failed to grasp by effectively picking his spots, knowing the trigger buttons for maximum fright, as well as how hard and often to push them. After a terrifyingly graphic introduction, Pennywise's subsequent appearances are strategically placed to count, as the focus turns to building the groundwork of the kids' relationships to each other so when the time comes for that ultimate showdown, we'll care.

The more we get to know the group, the more we eventually start seeing of Pennywise, menacingly played by Bill Skarsgård in a performance that shuts down any and all comparisons to Tim Curry's portrayal, if only because the presentation feels so wildly different this time around. Skarsgård brings an innocent, almost childlike playfulness to him that somehow seems even more sinister and monstrous, as he attempts to meet them on their level. King's story always had the advantage that clowns are inherently creepy, but you can't help think this reckless incarnation is more dangerous, frequently calling to mind the differences between Ledger's and Nicholson's Jokers.

Since Pennywise is used so sparingly in the opening hour, when the time arrives for him to take center stage in the battle with these kids, it actually means something. There are moments of true terror in not only their encounters with Derry's sadistic antagonist (particularly one suspenseful scene involving a slide projector), but in their everyday lives. Darker, more adult elements of King's novel were cleaned up for a suitable network TV presentation over two decades ago such as vicious bullying, child abuse, kidnapping and murder are given a more fully fleshed-out treatment here by Muschietti. Of course none of it would work if not for the casting of these kids, each of whom overdeliver, with one delivering one of the most memorable on screen interpretations of a King character in years.

Jaeden Lieberher ably takes the lead as the reluctant but determined Bill while Jeremy Ray Taylor seems to channel a young, chubby Jerry O'Connell from Stand By Me as chronic bullying victim, Ben. The latter's story arc is sure to remind many of Stranger Things, with Nicholas Hamilton's sociopathic delinquent, Henry, baring more than a passing resemblance to the similarly psychotic Billy from that series' sophomore season. But it's ultimately the work of Sophia Lillis as the abused and ostracized Beverly that makes the strongest connection, both with viewers and the source material.

Handed the most emotionally challenging of the main roles, Beverly carries with her a knowledge and world-weariness that seems years beyond her age, even as she remains paralyzingly stunted and a prisoner of her own fear. Or more accurately, the fear of her evil, abusive father. If ever there was a bridge between the first and second chapters of this saga, it's Lillis who builds it with a performance that basically dictates where that installment needs to go, even prompting many to acknowledge there's no better actress fit to take over that role than Jessica Chastain. Aside from the obvious similarity in looks, that she might be the only one to do it justice speaks volumes about what Lillis accomplishes.

If that casting possibility is the very definition of a no-brainer, figuring out a way to make Chapter 2 as involving will still be the biggest obstacle given King's penchant for sloppy, unrealized endings. There's a reason the most successful cinematic adaptations of the author's work have frequently deviated from their sources in unexpected ways. With this being the narratively stronger section, Muschietti manages to get away with not doing much of that but it'll be intriguing to see what tricks he'll have up his sleeve to further develop the story and characters following the twenty-seven year time jump.

That the ending has us looking forward to that second chapter is something few thought was even possible after the project was announced and then spent some time in pre-production purgatory. And even fewer still could have ever guessed It would become the all-time highest- grossing horror film to date. Watching the last thirty or forty minutes should be a strong reminder why, as that slow, simmering build peaks, and the kids are forced to stare fear straight in his face. And while they do see a terrifying clown, 2017's version of It understands that their true challenge comes in dealing with their own worst fears reflected back at them.