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Dir: Andres Muschetti (15, 135 mins)
In 1990, Stephen King’s 1986 epic horror novel was turned into a similarly epic TV series when Tim Curry scared anyone who watched as Pennywise the clown, an embodiment of evil that kills and eats children. In 2017, it’s been updated for the big screen. Split into two films, the first set in 1988-89 that shows a group of plucky youngsters facing up to their supernatural nemesis, and a sequel set in 2016 with the kids grown up and traumatised… if box office numbers allow. It’s an exercise in horror nostalgia, with It riding the Stranger Things vibe hard with its 80s setting and even sharing a cast member, Finn Wolfhard. The Losers Club, a ragtag bunch of outsider kids confront the child-killing force living in the sewers beneath the town of Derry, a shapeshifting clown who can become your worst fears, played by baby faced Bill Skarsgard. It’s classic Stephen King territory, blending the adolescent bonding of Stand By Me with the small town terror of Salem’s Lot. The director of Mama, Muschetti, knows how to do jump scares, hopefully he will craft character too, especially if the film is open-ended. Whatever, this is definitely one for coulrophobics to avoid.
Opens Sept 7