Staring into my soul at 9:45  were two horrific choices to make, what did I want to watch?

Option A: The most terrifying movie currently in theaters, or Option B: The funniest movie you’ll want to see with someone who doesn’t take kindly to thrillers.

If you chose Option A, congratulations, you chose Despicable Me 3, the most terrifying movie on the market. Those minions man, you’ll see things that you will never be able to un-see. 

And then there’s Option B: It (2017) which to some, including myself, was rather comical if you aren’t afraid of clowns.

If you are, that’s a different story. You’ll soil yourself.

Let’s start with one of the most iconic scenes that most people are going to recognize or know about once they glue their bottom to the seat. The scene involves Georgie, his paper boat rushing down a pavement-stream right into a gutter; right into Pennywise’s lair…? (Spoiler? You’ll have to find out.)

Let’s start with Pennywise. Regardless of your fear or non-existent fear of clowns, he’s terrifying. His eyes pierce the soul like… like thrown-away pizza. Yeah. You’re with me now, aren’t you?

His eyes moved in uniform from behind the sockets right into place; while not fear-inducing, it definitely made my eyes hurt. But it’s his teeth in this gutter scene that made my head tilt as the piranha-like daggers spiking out of Pennywise’s elongated mouth into Georgie’s shoulder that got me good. I was expecting the usual build-up of suspense, followed by a moment of uncertainty, and then an off-screen sound of the event happening.

But nope, that didn’t happen at all. I saw Pennywise, I saw Georgie’s arm torn off as he is dragged into the sewer crying for his father. This was followed by a whole lot of “oh-ing” and “aaah-ing” from the very few people also sitting through the screening.

Speaking of Pennywise, let’s talk about Bill Skarsgård’s portrayal of the clown.

Man was it good.

And not just “eh, it was alright,” it was phenomenal, to an extent. If you hate clowns, you’ll hate this one. However, if you take a moment to consider more about the portrayal of the character, you’ll realize that Skarsgård somehow managed to take Mike Myers’ Cat in the Hat to a whole new level.

For instance, towards the end of the film, Pennywise takes a bullet straight to the forehead which results in what seems like a “standard routine” for Pennywise. It’s like his personal goal as a clown is to make his death as clown-ish as possible, and he definitely succeeded.

Beyond the cast, I have to mention the cinematography and effects in the film. Each shot is it’s own story; in fact, the movie itself (with Pennywise’s numerous disguises/forms) can be almost considered a collection of short monster-stories involving the same monster, due to the fact that Pennywise is not the only form “It” takes.

If you don’t find clowns scary, you’ll definitely find moments in this movie to laugh at.

If you do find clowns scary, you’ll definitely want a change of underpants and to leave the lights on for a while.