It — Bill Bodkin
Putting out there right now — not a horror guy. So, my perspective on what constitutes the best horror film of the decade might be a little different from the hardcore horror fans that write for this site.
While admittedly not a horror fan, I’ve been subject to nearly every horror film that’s come out over the past decade due to my wife. No film has resonated with me, or I believe culturally over the past 10 years than the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s IT.
The first “chapter” of the film, released in 2017, became an instant cultural phenomenon when the first glimpses of the iconic red balloon floated on YouTube in the blustery beginning of that year. Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgard, was shown to us in fleeting and frightening moments. It was terrifying and tantalizing all at the same time. You had to go to the movies to see what this creature was.
Seeing IT in a dark movie theater was the absolute perfect setting from the nerve-shredding scares that came onto the screen. The headless burnt boy in the library, Pennywise coming out of the projector, the TV program telling Henry Bowers to kill his father, the haunted house scenes, Bev’s horrible father — all of them are still giving me goosebumps just writing about it.
However, it’s not just the scares that make this movie so great. The chemistry between the young leads is phenomenal and propels this movie from being “a scary clown movie” into a film about the humor and horrors of growing up, and how fear can be seen through the eyes a child.
Sadly, IT Chapter 2, did not live up the level of excellence of the first film. The adult leads are terrific and mirror the chemistry of the first film — but less than stellar CGI, and a third act that felt like it was out of gas, hamstrung this conclusion to the story.
However, IT (Chapter 1) can be put on at any time of year, no matter how many years after its release, and be marveled at for being an intensely scary, well-written, masterfully acted piece of film.
