Pennywise the Clown is back and so are the Losers Club! Here’s my It Chapter Two review, directed by Andy Muschietti and stars James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Bill Skaarsgard and more. It opens today from Warner Bros Pictures!

Watch the trailer for It Chapter Two below:

27 years after the events of the first movie, the Losers Club reconvene in Derry, Maine to “kill the clown” once and for all. And if you enjoyed / got freaked out in the first “It” movie, then you’ll be happy to know that its still the same even bigger. There are a few changes and updates here and there but its a rethread. Take a deeper look and you’ll see that the film not just closed any strand left open from the 2017 film but also explores any new plot points that have been revealed or created within the time jump.

So here are my additional thoughts for this It Chapter Two review in bulletpoints no less. Also there may be spoilers for this so a spoiler alert is in order…

• I like time jumps in any format as long as its a good story and Stephen King did an awesome job which translates neatly in this new film. The film does away with any unnecessary ones or subplots that don’t float with the stream, so
• While there are a lot of rethreads from the first movie (which is forgivable because that’s really how Stephen King wrote the novel), it still feels fresh with the adult Losers Club members returning to Derry and having to individually face Pennywise once more…

• Still impressed with how well they managed to make things scary for viewers. I’ve seen It Chapter One like four times between when it was released and today but seeing Chapter Two still creeped me out.
• I love that they managed to bring back Paul Bunyan as part of Richie’s story and they added in a nice little twist…

• So many new special FX and CGI in this one. If you’ve seen the trailer with the old lady, that’s not even the half of it. I swear, so many body horror moments here in this film, its almost borderline disturbing (in a good way).
• The story is one of friendship, as anime and manga as that sounds. Its about sticking together and facing your worst fears together and coming out strong.
• I like the implication that for the Loser Club member Mike Hanlon had become caged in Derry partly because of his vow and partly because he doesn’t have anything outside after all these years.

• James McAvoy brings the chops here as Bill Denbrough. You got to look for that moment where he suddenly reverts back to his younger self in some way; getting his stuttering back as well as getting a nice scene where he has to face the harsh reality, not to mention the guilt, of losing Georgie because of him.

• I’m a bit sad that Jessica Chastain wasn’t hitting the high notes I was expecting of her in this movie. She was exceptional as the older Beverly Marsh but I had very high expectation. At least her character gets a happy ending and her role is a lot better than what she did in X-Men: Dark Phoenix where she also starred with James McAvoy.
• Expect a lot of moments here in “It Chapter Two” where you find yourself going “don’t do it, don’t do it”. Its that engrossing and this alone earns it high remarks.
• Andy Muschietti and the creative team also managed to find the perfect balance between jump scares and traditional horror / gore moments. Its thrust even further because the makeup and prosthetics they used for those scenes really stand out.
• If there’s one negative comment for this film, it has to be the short amount of appearance of Pennywise. The first movie, had a lot of great Pennywise movie but for the second chapter, there’s not so much.

So let me recap:

The story was done great, with liberties taken to make it even better as opposed to both the book ending the TV movie ending. The cast were sooooo spot on especially Bill Hader as Richie Tozier. If you watch the whole two parts for five hours, it won’t feel dragging and will keep you at the edge of your seats.

Bill Skaarsgard as Pennywise will fuck you up nicely. He’s that good of a character actor.

Still no sign of Maturin the Turtle… at least in “Chapter 1” they were able to reference him. In this one, not so much.

It Chapter Two Review – Verdict

10/10

It’s a perfect horror  movie for me. I love the balance that they got for the film brilliantly mixing horror and comedy and everything in between. It’s also a fitting end to the modern version of the Loser’s Club.

Special thanks to Warner Bros Pictures for the invite.