IT

Running Time: 181 minutes.
Media: DVD.

I never thought I would say this, but this movie still gives me the creeps after 21 years... I don't know whether it's because of the horror element, or whether Tim Curry just scares the bejeezus out of me... But Stephen King movies are designed for that one purpose, to scare the living s[CENSORED]t out of the audience; and he succeeds very well! This movie was a two-part series that was screened in the US back in 1990 over two days. The DVD came out some several years later as a double-sided disc, at a whopping 181 minutes... You actually had to flip sides half-way through...

The movie flips back and forth between two timelines of the lives of seven kids from the fictitious town of Derry in Maine. Seems Mr King has a fascination for Maine... which kinda makes sense seeing he was born in Maine so he must know the area rather well... IT is based on the novel of the same name, one of 49 he's written as of this time in 2011... A big achievement i would say in his genre of expertise, but I digress. These seven kids are taunted by the wise-cracking Pennywise the Clown, a character which is apparently just a shell for a being that awakens every 30 years to feed, and it seems that the concept of the "kid's meal" is taken a little too literally by Pennywise, who is apparently responsible for a number of murders then and even further back then.

The kids defeat him (or so they would believe back in 1960), and find out that he's come back some thirty years later, performing more kiddy murders... So we're now faced with a bunch of 40-somethings who then team up to go through the motions yet again and hopefully rid Derry of It once and for all...

I really enjoyed this film, but often felt the hairs of my neck stand up on end, and I love a good horror film that is capable of doing that! It was actually amazing to see both John Ritter and Richard Thomas in the same movie after so many years of starring side by side in the TV series The Waltons... What surprises me the most now is that Jonathan Landis, the guy who played the pre-teen Bill Denborough in the film actually committed suicide some few years back, a bit of a sad loss really. John Ritter also died some time back from heart-related issues. Tim Curry, who plays the role of Pennywise/It is outstanding and outlandish and fits so well in the part, it makes you realize how unique a talent he really is... it truly explains the reasons behind his acquiring the various other roles he has obtained in his career: Tim Curry has talent!

I would recommend this movie for anyone who wants a decent scare... they're guaranteed that with watching IT. I'm giving this 4 stars due to its great storyline, and I look forward to actually reading the novel by King. I'd give the movie 5 stars but there's a reasonable amount of disbelief that I have to take into consideration about the way some of the acting is portrayed at the start of the movie, a little hammy... but you tend to ignore it if you love movies the way I do.