3 & 3ish Short Paragraphs: It(s)

It, 2017, Andy Muschietti (Mama) -- download
It Chapter Two, 2019, Andy Muschietti (Mamá) -- download

The more I write this blog, the more I wonder why I keep on writing this blog, and yet conversely, I also wonder why I didn't write about this, that, or the other thing. I get that I didn't write about It the year it came out, as it would have been past October when it was available for piracy (it was a September theatre release) and I would have been drained of all horror. So, that means I saw it in 2018, during That Dark Period. But again, I may know why I didn't write about it, but it doesn't stop me from lamenting that I did not capture my experience. After all, I did write about Mama. And in the end, is the writing of this blog going to end up a nostalgic endeavour where I look back on some sort of futuristic archive and wonder what I was up to in the second era of blogging? So much meta, mama.

I loved Stephen King when I was a kid and quickly absorbed everything he wrote. That was when I could actually read at a decent pace as he was the man of Big Fat Books. But he was such a situational writer, so steeped in the era the book was written, I wonder whether I could successfully finish one of his old books now. Add to that the current emergence of awareness of exactly what is going on in the world and where King fits into all of that (i.e. you said what about an adolescent girl?!?!?) I am not sure if I can be as much a King fan as I was. But, I still love the concept of It. And I will always be quoting, "We all float down here...", and getting chills.

Pennywise the Clown, a thing of nightmares even before you add the rows of shark teeth. Really, these movies are about him. If you don't get him right, you don't get the tone. I never really liked Tim Curry's version in the 90s TV mini-series. I found it too hammy, too over the top, with very little otherworldly horror. But here, Bill Skarsgård plays the creature as both monster and child predator, for that is what it ultimately is, hints of seduction mixed into the sly deceptions. Does that make you uncomfortable? It's supposed to. Given that the first movie, the one that really worked well for me, was about the misfit kids stepping up to deal with a monster, was all about their loss of innocence we are supposed to feel icky in how Pennywise reaches out to them.

We rewatched It in order to follow-up with the sequel, as part of the failed attempt to do a mini-binge of horror movies, in reflection to the pandemic. That now, only a month or so later, they do not stick with me says much about both of the movies. They are capable enough, but the scares are primarily jump scares with a bit of body-horror CGI tossed in for good measure. Once these transported out of time kids (does it ever feel like the 80s in the movie?) age into more familiar faces (Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader) even more memorable story telling is drained out. Much of the horror is lifted from the movie, supplanted like foggy memories of childhood, with monster hunting & weak-willed adultisms. The movie just seemed like an exercise in Just Getting It Done (much like many of my posts *cough*) instead of a work of passion. If anything sticks, it was Hader as the comedian tainted with great sadness and regret, so much that I am not sure I will be able to see Hader play anything without thinking he is Richie Tozier behind it all.