STRANGERER THINGS: Movie Review of It by Howard Casner
Posted: September 22, 2017 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Andy Muschietti, Bill Skarsgard, Cary Fukunaga, Chase Palmer, Gary Dauberman, It, Sophia Lillis | 81 Comments »
For questions: hcasner@aol.com
First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r
and check out my Script Consultation Services: http://ow.ly/HPxKE
Warning: SPOILERS
It, the new film adaptation of Steven King’s horror novel which exploits childhood fears of clowns, opened in September setting records with many critics saying it may actually prove the salvation of a lackluster, to say the least, summer box office.
It reached 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and based on anecdotal evidence of my Facebook page, most everyone I know swears by it, heralding it as the emperor in a new golden age of horror movies.
But for me, it’s the emperor’s new clothes and one of the worst films of the year.
The film starts off rather promisingly with a grabber scene that dramatizes the first abduction of a child by that evil clown, Mr. Pennywhistle. Though the scene depends on one of the largest sewer openings I’ve ever seen (and seems to change size for the convenience of the story, which should have been the real hint of what was to come), it was still a pretty harrowing scene and sets up a rather nice metaphor for child molesting.
But after this, almost nothing makes sense, even within the context of horror films.
The most impressive aspect of the film aesthetically is its use of the town of Derry as a stand in for a typical small American town of the 1980’s (you know it’s a period piece the moment our intrepid heroes just drop their bikes willy nilly without locking them up). When shown from a distance, the beautiful fall colors and brick buildings overcome you with a breathtaking feeling of nostalgia (one of the fortuitous things that helped generate interest in the film was the surprise hit television show Stranger Things).
But after this, the plot is basically made up of a series of somewhat arbitrary jump and go boo moments that happen with no clear rhyme or reason. It’s explained later on (and it has to be explained because I never would have figured it out otherwise) that Pennywhistle feeds on the primary fear of each kid. A neat idea, but so blurrily dramatized, after seeing the film I couldn’t really tell you what each teen was afraid of.
Well, one. One was afraid of clowns, which seems to be a clunky story turn since Pennywhistle himself is one.
Even odder, when it comes to our central characters, a group, it would seem, inspired more by the Goonies than the feverish mind of King, Pennywhistle treats them differently than the other children disappearing.
He’s like a James Bond villain. He has no problem offing or taking out most of his victims. The only ones he can’t seem to remove just coincidentally happen to be the only ones who can take him out. And I’m not sure if it’s explained why he killed only one child, in the opening, rather than just feed on his fear and suspend him.
So the jump and go boo scenes become more and more arbitrary and even redundant until I was laughing at the obvious manipulation of them. I just couldn’t be scared.
I’m sure you will not be surprised that the intrepid teens take out the face painted villain. But the ending is not only unresolved, it is gigantically unresolved. The kids come upon what looks like fifty or more of others like themselves floating in space. When Pennywhistle is disposed of, they come floating down.
But what the movie fails to tell us is first, whether these floaters are still alive, and second, just what the hell did our heroes tell everyone about what happened?
This final scene also reveals a huge flaw in the movie. This is a huge number of kids to go missing in a relatively short period of time. When that dawns on you, then you realize that the town is not remotely acting like a center of child disappearances. The city has a curfew, but that’s a ridiculously underwhelming response to what is going on (especially since so many of the children went missing during the day).
If this many kids were going missing, the city would be inundated by outside authorities like the FBI, private detectives and media from the world over.
The youths wouldn’t have had to search the Niebold house or the sewers. The authorities would have done it months earlier.
The direction is by Andy Muschietti and it must be admitted that the movie looks good. The script is by Chase Palmer, Gary Dauberman and Cary Fukunaga (who was originally supposed to direct), and it must be admitted… well, the film looks good (though I wonder how many of the flaws of the movie can be traced to the source material).
With Bill Skarsgard as Mr. Pennywhistle. Not an easy performance to forget, I’ll wager, but the best one is given by Sophia Lillis as the token girl of the group.
81 Comments on “STRANGERER THINGS: Movie Review of It by Howard Casner”
Leave a Reply
REAL Short Box Subscribe!
… [Trackback]
[…] Read More Info here on that Topic: rumblespoon.com/wp/2017/strangerer-things-movie-review-of-it-by-howard-casner/ […]
I was able to find good information from your articles.
indianpharmacy com http://indiaph24.store/# indianpharmacy com
reputable indian online pharmacy
https://indiaph24.store/# Online medicine home delivery
mexico pharmacy: cheapest mexico drugs – best online pharmacies in mexico
http://indiaph24.store/# india pharmacy
http://cytotec.club/# Cytotec 200mcg price
does tamoxifen cause bone loss: nolvadex half life – tamoxifen men
tamoxifen moa: tamoxifen hormone therapy – what happens when you stop taking tamoxifen
buying lisinopril online lisinopril online canada prinivil 20 mg tablet
order cytotec online: Misoprostol 200 mg buy online – buy cytotec in usa
https://finasteride.store/# get propecia online
lisinopril 5mg prices: zestril 20 mg tab – lisinopril 10 mg price
https://nolvadex.life/# buy tamoxifen
Abortion pills online: Abortion pills online – Cytotec 200mcg price
buy cheap propecia online propecia brand name cost cheap propecia no prescription
https://finasteride.store/# buying generic propecia without insurance
tamoxifen men tamoxifen cancer tamoxifen and bone density
buy cytotec over the counter buy cytotec online fast delivery purchase cytotec
http://cytotec.club/# buy cytotec online fast delivery
buy cytotec: cytotec online – buy misoprostol over the counter
cost of generic propecia without prescription propecia prices or buying cheap propecia online
http://assertivenorthwest.com/?URL=https://finasteride.store cost propecia prices
cheap propecia no prescription propecia cost and cost cheap propecia tablets cost generic propecia tablets
ciprofloxacin 500 mg tablet price where can i buy cipro online п»їcipro generic
https://finasteride.store/# order generic propecia pills
buy cytotec over the counter: buy cytotec online – buy cytotec pills online cheap
tamoxifen nolvadex steroids where to get nolvadex
http://ciprofloxacin.tech/# cipro 500mg best prices
cipro ciprofloxacin ciprofloxacin generic price or <a href=" https://wakeuplaughing.com/phpinfo.php?a=prince+mattress+( “>buy ciprofloxacin
https://www.karts.nl/link.php?url=https://ciprofloxacin.tech ciprofloxacin
cipro pharmacy cipro and cipro 500mg best prices cipro ciprofloxacin
Abortion pills online: buy cytotec online fast delivery – buy cytotec in usa
does tamoxifen cause menopause generic tamoxifen or nolvadex for sale
http://aa-quebec.org/AA_Quebec/Templates/asp/rediriger-c.asp?nouveauurl=https://nolvadex.life/ tamoxifen dose
п»їdcis tamoxifen how to get nolvadex and nolvadex vs clomid tamoxifen and weight loss
http://ciprofloxacin.tech/# buy cipro online
tamoxifen for gynecomastia reviews clomid nolvadex buy tamoxifen
buy cytotec over the counter buy cytotec in usa purchase cytotec
https://ciprofloxacin.tech/# ciprofloxacin 500mg buy online
tamoxifen endometriosis tamoxifen depression tamoxifen pill
Buy generic Levitra online Cheap Levitra online buy Levitra over the counter
cheap kamagra: buy kamagra online – sildenafil oral jelly 100mg kamagra
cheapest viagra Buy Viagra online cheapest viagra
http://levitrav.store/# Cheap Levitra online
Vardenafil online prescription Cheap Levitra online or buy Levitra over the counter
https://www.d-style.biz/feed2js/feed2js.php?src=https://levitrav.store Buy Vardenafil 20mg online
Levitra online USA fast buy Levitra over the counter and buy Levitra over the counter Buy generic Levitra online
Cheap Levitra online: Cheap Levitra online – Cheap Levitra online
cheap kamagra kamagra oral jelly buy kamagra online usa
Viagra Tablet price: Cheapest place to buy Viagra – Sildenafil 100mg price
https://cialist.pro/# Buy Cialis online
order viagra: Cheap Viagra 100mg – Viagra online price
https://pharmindia.online/# cheapest online pharmacy india
https://pharmnoprescription.icu/# buy meds online without prescription
indianpharmacy com world pharmacy india Online medicine home delivery
https://pharmworld.store/# cheapest pharmacy to get prescriptions filled
best india pharmacy cheapest online pharmacy india best india pharmacy
canada pharmacy coupon: uk pharmacy no prescription – canadian pharmacy discount coupon
https://pharmworld.store/# online pharmacy discount code
cheapest pharmacy to fill prescriptions without insurance prescription free canadian pharmacy or <a href=" http://eu-clearance.satfrance.com/?a= “>no prescription required pharmacy
https://www.google.me/url?q=https://pharmworld.store no prescription needed pharmacy
canadian pharmacy world coupons foreign pharmacy no prescription and reputable online pharmacy no prescription canadian pharmacy discount coupon
neurontin price in india: neurontin 50 mg – neurontin 300 mg buy
http://prednisoned.online/# 10 mg prednisone
buy amoxicillin online cheap order amoxicillin online no prescription amoxicillin without rx
https://prednisoned.online/# prednisone cream rx
zithromax 500 mg where to get zithromax zithromax 1000 mg online
neurontin brand name 800mg best price 32 neurontin neurontin 800 mg
canadian pharmacy amoxicillin amoxicillin 500mg buy online uk amoxicillin 500mg prescription
neurontin 30 mg: neurontin for sale online – neurontin online pharmacy
how to buy doxycycline online: buy doxycycline online 270 tabs – doxycycline 100mg
buy generic doxycycline doxycycline pills or doxycycline 100mg
https://www.google.ms/url?sa=t&url=https://doxycyclinea.online buy generic doxycycline
doxycycline 100mg price buy doxycycline online uk and price of doxycycline buy doxycycline online without prescription
https://doxycyclinea.online/# buy doxycycline online 270 tabs
generic zithromax azithromycin order zithromax without prescription zithromax capsules
http://amoxila.pro/# how to get amoxicillin
zithromax for sale 500 mg: zithromax 500 – zithromax 500mg price
buy generic neurontin online: neurontin 300 mg pill – neurontin prescription cost
neurontin 100mg neurontin 100 mg caps neurontin cost in canada
http://prednisoned.online/# can i order prednisone
amoxicillin 500 mg cost amoxicillin without prescription or amoxicillin 500mg price in canada
https://cse.google.md/url?sa=t&url=https://amoxila.pro amoxicillin over counter
amoxicillin without a doctors prescription buy amoxicillin canada and amoxicillin discount amoxicillin 500 mg tablet
prednisone 40 mg daily where to buy prednisone in australia over the counter prednisone cheap
http://prednisoned.online/# generic over the counter prednisone
buy azithromycin zithromax: buy zithromax without prescription online – zithromax for sale online
neurontin brand name 800mg: neurontin 1800 mg – neurontin buy online
https://gabapentinneurontin.pro/# gabapentin generic
https://prednisoned.online/# prednisone pill prices
cheap neurontin: neurontin price – neurontin 300 mg mexico
https://zithromaxa.store/# zithromax price south africa
https://mexicanpharmacy1st.com/# mexican online pharmacies prescription drugs
https://lisinopril.club/# how much is lisinopril 10 mg
price of lisinopril 30 mg: zestoretic coupon – prescription drug lisinopril
https://propeciaf.online/# order propecia pills