Class of '99: The Blair Witch Project

As I reflect back on The Blair Witch Project 20 years later, I find myself immediately remembering the publicity machine that was operating behind this movie. Before this movie, the whole concept of a "found footage" movie didn't really exist aside from a couple fringe movies here and there. But this one was playing multiplexes throughout the country and trying to play up that this whole thing was real, when it really wasn't. 

Heather (played by Heather Donahue) is a college student making a documentary on the legend of the Blair Witch in Burkittsville, Maryland with two fellow students, Josh (played by Joshua Leonard) and Mike (played by Michael C. Williams). The film we see unfold is the footage they shot for their documentary that was shot in 1994 by the trio who disappeared in the woods outside Burkittsville and only the footage they shot was found a year later. The beginning unfolds like a standard documentary with Heather explaining the legend of the Blair Witch and local residents are interviewed about the legend. Things take a turn when they head into the woods to find evidence of the Witch herself camping out for a few nights as they hike through the woods. Things start getting eerie as weird stick sculptures start showing up, their map goes missing and they quickly get lost. Things only get more intense from there as we watch their final days unfold through the footage they left behind. 

The film was carefully conceived by directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez who drew up a 35 page outline for their three actors to follow but left the three of them to improvise the scenes between the three of them with the actors acting as their own camera operators as well. They also told all three actors all the information about the Blair Witch legends as if it were a real thing, planting actors for them to interview to make everything that much more real for the three actors. The filmmakers also kept in contact with the actors as they shot the film. They would stage certain things for them to react to throughout the film, most of it things the actors were not expecting making their reactions all that much more authentic. Shot on a shoestring budget of $60,000, the filmmakers manage to craft a film that works with a frightening authenticity as their situation grows more and more dire. The fact that the actors themselves are shooting the film adds another level of authenticity to the film as well with the shaky camera footage and poor lighting. Then they were brilliant in their marketing of the film utilizing the internet to build buzz for the film by playing up the mystery of what happened to the three main characters and playing it all as authentic. This marketing continued as the film was picked up by Artisan Entertainment and continued into the Summer of 1999. It wasn't firmly revealed to be a fictional film until just before the film premiered. The level of hype behind this movie was huge, especially for such a small movie. 

The bulk of the movie is carried by the three leads and they give fantastic performances in the film. The experience of making the film for them was basically method acting to an insane degree. So much of what Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael C Williams convey in their performances is based on what they went through filming it in the cold, rainy woods. Throughout the film they grow more irritated with one another as the actors themselves are cold, hungry (because the directors increasingly left them less and less food as the shoot went on) and exhausted. Of course, this authenticity plays through in the film making their desperation and fear all that more palpable. They had no idea what was going to happen each night so the majority of their reactions are genuine. They're not just acting scared, they are legitimately terrified. It had to have been a hell of an experience shooting this movie and those feelings read on film to a palpable degree. Since so much of what is going on in the woods is only heard and not seen, it's the reactions and performances of the three actors that stir the imagination of the audience and can only make those scenes more tense and scary.   

Revisiting The Blair Witch Project 20 years later, after all the hoopla and the subsequent backlash and parodies has died down was interesting. The film started a trend of "Found Footage" horror movies but none of them really amounted to much or had the impact this one did, at least with me. In fact, it was a genre I came to actively hate and avoid so I wasn't sure I wanted to come back to this one because of that. But I can't talk about the horror movies of 1999 and not acknowledge this cultural phenomenon. But, to my surprise I still found it genuinely scary. I was able to get into it just as a movie on it's own terms and it really freaked me out again. Maybe because it played into my own fears and anxieties. I hadn't seen it in probably a good fifteen years but it all came back to me. I know this movie has been mocked endlessly, especially Heather's famous "I'm so sorry" confessional, but with some distance from all that I was surprised to find for the most part the movie still worked for me. Except for the plot point about the map. That's still stupid.  

Class of '99: The Mummy

One of the more enduring movies of 1999 has certainly been Stephen Sommers' remake of the classic Universal Monster movie, The Mummy. In fact, when the film was rebooted with Tom Cruise in 2017, that film was met with a collective shrung with audiences just wishing Universal had made another movie with Brendan Fraser and company instead. One can hardly blame them too, as this movie is still a blast 20 years later. 

Evie Carnahan (played by Rachel Weisz) is a librarian and aspiring Egyptologist living in Cairo when she is presented with a unique artifact from her brother Jonathan (played by John Hannah). It is a intricate box that contains a map that Evie quickly recognizes as the lost city of Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead. Jonathan reveals he got the box through less than legal means from an American Adventurer Rick O'Connell (played by Brendan Fraser), who was at the city three years prior while fighting with the French Foreign Legion. After negotiating his release from prison, Rick agrees to take Evie an Jonathan there. They soon discover another group of American treasure hunters led by a former comrade of Rick's, Beni (played by Kevin J O'Connor), are searching for the same place in pursuit of treasure. Both groups soon arrive at the fabled lost city and begin exploring. Evie, Rick and Jonathan discover the mummified remains of the High Priest Imhotep (played by Arnold Vosloo) while the Americans discover the Book of the Dead. Later that night, Evie sneaks over to the American's camp and quietly steals the Book of the Dead. Reading a passage from the book, she unwittingly awakens the mummy of Imhotep. With Imhotep unleashed, he sets out to begin sucking the lives out of the people who invaded his tomb, restoring himself in the process. He also sets his sights on Evie as the perfect person to use to resurrect his beloved Anck-su-namun. This leaves our trio of intrepid heroes scrambling to figure out a way to put the all powerful Imhotep back in the grave and save Evie from similar fate in the process. 

The film was written and directed by Stephen Sommers, who took the basic plot of the original 1932 Universal monster movie and mixed in a heavy dose of Indiana Jones Saturday Morning Serial adventure and plenty of humor to craft a thoroughly thrilling and fun film. Still, there is a fair amount of horror elements throughout the film too with the main villain Imhotep working his way through the Americans in a bid to restore himself to his former glory, as well as targeting Evie to use to resurrect his beloved. These elements never stray out of the usual realm of a PG-13 movie, but still can be rather creepy even if some of the CGI effects, especially a partially deteriorated Imhotep or the ancient scarab beetles that love to burrow under people's skin, don't quite hold up all these years later. Yet what the film may lack in effects, and they hold up more than they don't, it makes up for in it's own spirited and at times genuinely funny storytelling. The production design of the film is exquisite, from the wide open deserts to the ruins of Hamunaptra as well as the flashback to ancient Egypt that opens the film. It all gives the film a wonderful sense of scope on which the filmmakers are able to tell their goofy little tale.    

The film has a wonderful cast led by Brendan Fraser as the quick-witted Rick O'Connell, always ready with a firearm and a one-liner. Fraser imbues the character with plenty of charm and is clearly having a blast playing the role. Rachel Weisz does a great job as Evie, showing her character's intelligence with ease as she is an incredibly accomplished librarian, including able to read ancient Egyptian. And like all true voracious readers she isn't always careful about what she reads aloud, which unfortunately directly leads to the resurrection of Imhotep (whoops!). John Hannnah is a lot of fun as Evie's scheming and carefree brother Jonathan. Kevin J. O'Connor is equally fun as the cowardly Beni who is willing to do anything to survive, including helping Imhotep just to save his own skin. Arnold Vosloo is great as Imhotep, especially when he is back to full power, proving to be a powerful and frightening adversary that proves immune to Rick's preferred way of dealing with such threats - copious amounts of ammo. 

It's hard to believe that The Mummy is really 20 years old. I still remember fondly when it was released in theatres, as well as the the trailers for it playing repeatedly on the monitors in the Blockbuster Video I used to work at back in the day. The film itself was a huge hit, spawning two sequels and an animated series. It's a film that remains beloved by it's many fans to this day and rightfully so. It's a fun adventure yarn with a monster movie twist that everyone seems to be having a lot of fun making and that fun remains contagious to this day. 

Class of '99: Sleepy Hollow

As I was looking back at the horror films I wanted to feature this year, I noticed there were a number of them from 1999, each turning 20 years old. So, I decided to dedicate a week to these members of the Class of 99, so to speak. It was a banner year for horror with a number of unique films within the genre. I decided to kick things off in high fashion with a look back at Tim Burton's spirited and quirky take on Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. 

Constable Ichabod Crane (played by Johnny Depp) is sent to the small village of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders. Upon arrival, he is greeted by Katrina Van Tassel (played by Christina Ricci) as well as her father Baltus (played by Michael Gambon) and stepmother Lady Van Tassel (played by Miranda Richardson). He soon meets with Baltus and the other town elders, Magistrate Phillipse (played by Richard Griffiths), Reverend Steenwyck (played by Jeffrey Jones) and Notary James Hardenbrook (played by Michael Gough). They inform him they believe the culprit to be the undead apparition known as the Headless Horseman. Skeptical and certain his culprit is made of flesh and blood, Ichabod begins his investigation using cutting edge scientific methods of his own creation, with assistance from the young Masbath (played by Marc Pickering). Soon enough, he comes face to face with the horseman himself. Surviving the ordeal unscathed, he realizes the Horseman is not killing at random. With the assistance of Katrina and Masbath, Ichabod tries to find out the connection between the Horseman's victims and put him to rest once and for all.  

The film was directed by Tim Burton from a script by Andrew Kevin Walker. The two do a great job expanding on and reinventing the classic Washington Irving tale into a a fun and scary piece of Gothic horror. Burton himself draws from the pantheon of Hammer horror films in the design of the film, creating a fantastic sense of mood and dread to the film. At the same time, they infuse the film with a cheeky sense of humor to keep things from getting too dark. It's a delicate balance, but they manage to pull it off quite well. The film is nicely de-saturated of most color with much of the film shot through blue filters. You really get a cold feel for Sleepy Hollow and how dead it seems, with the threat of the Horseman looming large. The production design of the film is positively exquisite in the way it crafts the village of Sleepy Hollow as well as the surrounding woods that are easy to believe are haunted. It adds a lot of character to the film that only helps the overall mood and atmosphere.  

The film has a fantastic cast led by Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane. He plays Crane as an intelligent man but also one who is throughly unprepared for dealing with something like the Headless Horseman, prone to repeatedly fainting after each encounter. Probably my favorite scene of the movie is Ichabod cowering in bed after his first run in with the Horseman, shaking in terror as he tells Baltus and Katrina of his encounter and them calmly responding yes, we told you there was a Horseman. It's a wonderfully comedic moment that is played perfectly by Depp. Christina Ricci is quite enchanting as Katrina Van Tassel, who proves to be a bit of a witch herself, working spells to help protect Ichabod as she watches over his investigation. She gives her character a lot of strength and smarts, as Katrina is one of the few willing to ride into the woods to track the Horseman with Ichabod. Michael Gambon is clearly having fun playing Baltus who is at once able to be welcoming to Ichabod while also seeming to be someone one hiding a secret or two. Christopher Walken makes a couple brief appearances as the Horseman in flashback (when he still had a head) and makes for a suitably menacing character, even if all he gets to do is growl as he mows through he opponents with a broadsword. It was also a nice touch to see Christopher Lee pop up in a cameo as the Judge who sends Ichabod to Sleepy Hollow at the beginning of the film in another nod to the film's Hammer Horror inspirations.  

I've always had a soft spot for Sleepy Hollow with it's creepy atmosphere and entertaining mix of humor and horror. The film is well directed by Tim Burton and his style really fits the material quite well. It's a handsomely mounted production that has a fantastic cast to match. If you've never seen it, or it's been a while since you have, it's well worth checking out and perfect viewing for the Halloween season.     

Halloween Horrorfest: Thirteen Ghosts

Following up Dark Castle's flagship release of The House on Haunted Hill in 1999 came another reimagining of a William Castle film, this time out it was Thirteen Ghosts. Keeping the same sort of tongue in cheek supernatural mayhem fun of the previous film, this one had a bit more of a mixed result. Still, the pluses do outweigh the minuses for me on this one, so it's still worth taking a look back at. 

Arthur Criticos (played by Tony Shalhoub) has been having a hard time of it since his wife died tragically in a fire that claimed their house and most of their belongings. Trying to make the best of it, he's cramped in a small apartment with his children Kathy (played by Shannon Elizabeth) and Bobby (played by Alec Roberts), as well as their live in nanny Maggie (played by Rah Digga). When a lawyer, Benjamin Moss (played by JR Moss), visits and notifies them they are the sole heirs of the estate of Arthur's late uncle Cyrus (played by F. Murray Abraham), they are overjoyed and soon make their way to Cyrus' very unique house in the countryside. They quickly discover the house is no ordinary house but a glass walled structure with etched glass designed specifically to contain a group a of the nastiest, most mean spirited ghosts Cyrus could find.  As they arrive at the house, they encounter Dennis Rafkin (played by Matthew Lillard), a powerful psychic that helped Cyrus collect ghosts and was trying to get into the house to retrieve the money Cyrus owed him. Soon enough, they group find themselves locked in the house as the mechanics of the house spring into motion and the machinery inside begin winding up towards something, leaving our characters to scramble to stay alive while they try to figure out what the house was designed for as the titular ghosts are released from their containment one by one. Ghosts they are only able to see through special sets of glasses. 

The film was directed by Steve Beck and written by Neal Marshall Stevens. They manage to craft a reasonably fun haunted house flick that moves at a brisk pace and doesn't over stay it's welcome. One of the main things the film has going for it is the house itself. It is eye candy from the viewer with all the walls made up of large panes of etched glass, covered in symbols that are meant to contain the movie's many ghosts. It's all lit and shot incredibly well and makes for a unique setting for the film. It is unlike any other haunted house seen in movies before or since. Alongside the house, the filmmakers also craft a grouping of some of the gnarliest, meanest and most memorable ghosts I've seen in a film. Each one has their own clear cut identity and all are memorably brought to life both by the actors portraying them and the memorable makeup designs by Gregory Nicotero, Norman Cabera, and Don Lanning. It's also a nice touch that a gimmick from the original film, where the audience can only see the ghosts through a special set of glasses, was incorporated into the plot of the movie itself this time around.

Tony Shalhoub leads the cast as the caring father of his fractured family and does a lot with the fairly standard role. He does a great job showing the stress and worry his character goes through but also remains sympathetic throughout. Matthew Lillard carries a fair amount of the exposition of the story and manages to keep it engaging in his own uniquely idiosyncratic way. Wisecracking his way through the film, it's not hard for the audience to love his character, even if he is at least partially responsible for their predicament. Rah Digga also provides a good amount of comic relief as the family nanny and often times is the only one speaking any sense, even if often times it falls on deaf ears. F. Murray Abraham is clearly having fun chewing the scenery as the human villain of the film and is fun to watch in the role.  

Overall, Thirteen Ghosts is nothing earth shattering in terms of the horror genre, but it can be a fun late night horror movie romp when you're not looking for something too heavy or too deep. The strengths of the film are definitely in the visuals, both in the absolute eye candy of the house itself and in the unique designs for each of the ghosts. The concept of the house and what it does when fully activated is a unique concept, and the filmmakers do pull off a couple surprises in the process. In the end, it probably doesn't amount to much, but when you're in it the movie is a lot of fun and I can't help but enjoy the movie every time I've seen it in that same spirit. It's cinematic junk food, but that doesn't mean it isn't good cinematic junk food.

Halloween Horrorfest: Slaughterhouse Rulez

I'm a sucker for horror comedies. Movies that blend the scares and the laughs can be a lot of fun to watch with characters cracking wise while dealing with terrifying situations. Since both genres can deal with the outrageous and absurd, they tend to blend well together. But sometimes, despite having all the requisite pieces, it just doesn't quite work as well as it should. Unfortunately, Slaughterhouse Rulez would be one of those examples. 

Don Wallace (played by Finn Cole) is transferring to the prestigious Slaughterhouse boarding school in Gloucestershire, England at the urging of his mum (played by Jo Hartley). Paired with the rebellious Willoughby Blake (played by Asa Butterfield), Don finds a school that follows a strict pecking order by house, of which has found himself on the lowest rung. Dominating over the students is Clegg (played by Tom Rhys Harries), the bullying school prefect that takes his styling and behavior cues from Draco Malfoy. It's not all bad for Don as he catches the eye of Clemsie (played by Hermoine Corfield). The school's headmaster, known as The Bat (played by Michael Sheen), informs the school that the woods are now off limits due to part of the school land being sold to a fracking company. Their house master is Meredith Houseman (played by Simon Pegg), a nebbish and ineffectual educator more focused on Cricket and bemoaning his girlfriend Audrey being overseas with Doctors Without Borders than his students. Things take a turn for the worse when the fracking creates a giant sinkhole that releases large subterranean monsters that begin to snack on the residents of the school, as well as some local protesters, led by a guy named Woody (played by Nick Frost). The social stature of the school is quickly discarded as the students find themselves in a fight for survival. 

The film was directed by Crispian Mills from a script he co-wrote with Henry Fitzherbert. The resulting film is a mixed bag. The first half of the film is very much a oddball teen comedy with the assorted students of the school, but keeping the focus primarily on Don and Willoughby. There is a wonderful sub-plot as the Willoughby's history with his previous roommate is revealed as well as what happened to him that allowed a space to open up for Don to enroll. The school is also populated with assorted other colorful characters but it gets bogged down in the same tired teen romance and teen bully cliches we have seen before. The film does pick up steam again once the monsters finally show up roughly 45 minutes into the film. Once it does the film moves from set piece to set piece with a brisk pace and a solid sense of humor that made the second half some reasonably breezy monster mayhem fun. I just wish the film had found a better pacing for the story and better mixed the raunchy teen comedy elements with the monster movie bits so it felt a bit more consistent throughout. 

One place where this movie does not slack is in the acting department. The cast is giving the film their all to try and make it work. Finn Cole is left with the straight guy role and manages it well, generally reacting to the insanity around him pretty much from the beginning when he lampshades the fact that the school is called "Slaughterhouse" and wonders why anyone would want to go there. Asa Butterfield has fun with his role as Willoughby and it's fun to see him play a more rebellious and mischievous character and step outside his usual type of role. Simon Pegg is clearly having fun playing his character, who is desperately missing his girlfriend Audrey and finding solace in Cricket while trying rather ineffectually to keep order in his house. Michael Sheen is clearly having a blast hamming it up as the school headmaster, making his grand entrance in flowing school robes like Snape on mescaline. He is an absolute hoot as he hams it up from beginning to end doing everything but literally gnawing on the scenery. Nick Frost pops up from time to time in the film as one of the protesters of the fracking operation on the school grounds, but also seems rather preoccupied with trying to sell the students he comes across drugs at the same time. 

Overall, Slaughterhouse Rulez is a definite mixed bag. When it worked, I enjoyed it for it's spirited energy and game cast. But when it didn't work, it was a bit of a slog to get through, especially getting to the monster mayhem in the second half. It has it's moments and the movie sure is trying hard. It's entertaining in fits and starts but as a whole it's disappointingly underwhelming, which is a shame because I was really looking forward to this one.         

Halloween Horrorfest: Child's Play (2019)

When I first heard they were doing a remake of Child's Play, my initial reaction was one of befuddlement and annoyance. The original series was still going strong with Cult of Chucky having just been released. It just seemed like a shameless cash grab with a familiar title. But, then a funny thing happened. They actually hired filmmakers who decided to try something new with the premise that resulted in a film that was actually pretty good? I certainly didn't see that coming. 

Struggling single mom Karen Barclay (played by Aubrey Plaza) is newly divorced and living with her young son, Andy (played by Gabriel Bateman) in an apartment they just moved into. In an attempt to help him socialize and cheer him up, she brings home a Buddi doll for him that was returned to the department store she works at. Buddi dolls are equipped with the latest in AI technology and can sync with other automated home technology. The Artificial Intelligence within the Buddi doll is state of the art and imprints on the owner, in this case Andy. However, this particular doll is defective and had the safety protocols turned off at the factory by a disgruntled employee. Without those this Buddi doll, named Chucky (voiced by Mark Hamill), has free reign to learn to emulate all sorts of actions, including stabbing and murder. As he bonds with Andy, he becomes more protective of him and anyone that threatens him or his family, such as Karen's douche bag new boyfriend, or threaten to replace Chucky as Andy's best friend fall within Chucky's cross hairs. Andy has few options to turn to for help, with his mom working and their neighbor Detective Mike Norris (played by Brian Tyree Henry) more likely to suspect him, he is going to have to take down the murderous doll himself.    

The film was directed by Lars Klevberg from a script by Taylor Burton Smith. They do a good job of taking the basic premise of the original film and fashioning a whole new movie from it. They kept the names of the three main characters, as well as the doll, and basically jettisoned everything else. Rather than a doll possessed with the spirit of a deceased serial killer, this doll is a malfunctioning toy equipped with state of the art technology. This is an intriguing direction to take the premise and adds a much needed freshness to the material as well. It also allows for a new take on Chucky himself, who starts out glitchy but innocent and only becomes dangerous through a warped sense of what he is supposed to do. The filmmakers also come up with some intensely original sequences as people come face to face with the new Chucky, who only becomes more lethal with his upgraded ability to interface with other household implements created by the same company that makes the Buddi Doll, with items such as drones or thermostats becoming lethal implements for him to exploit. Yet, the film also has a dark and wicked sense of humor at the same time and for the most part finds a nice balance between the horror and the humor. They also create a surprising amount of empathy towards Chucky, at least in the beginning, as Andy initially rejects Chucky due to his glitching and the fact that he feels too old for such a toy. There is an unexpected bit of tragedy as Chucky descends into his more homicidal ways because he starts out just wanting to help Andy, even if it's in a very twisted way. And to top it all off, we have a genuinely creepy score by Bear McCreary to up the creepy factor even further.  

With any Chucky movie, the focus is going to be on the doll and I have to say Mark Hamill does an impressive job making the role his own. This is a very different role from the one played by Brad Dourif in the original series. Hamill is able to really give this living doll some unexpected depth as I found myself empathizing with him in the beginning of the film as he is trying to be Andy's best friend. It's here that Hamill's talents as a voice actor really shine though as they are flawlessly matched with some impressive puppetry. They also give Chucky a programmed "Buddi Song" sung by Hamill that starts off sweet and innocent, but by the end of the movie when he sings it again it is genuinely creepy. Gabriel Bateman does well as an aged up Andy and therefore has a much more active role in the story as opposed to the original film where Andy was much younger. Much of the film revolves around Chucky and Andy as it falls to the kid to take down the homicidal toy when the parents and other adults don't believe him until it's too late. Aubrey Plaza does quite well as Andy's mom in a role that is much more serious than the roles she's known for currently and it's a great change of pace for her. She does a great job conveying Karen's stress and concerns as she tries to build a new life for herself and her son, even if she is not always making the best choices. Brian Tyree Henry steps into the role of Mike Norris quite well. I thought it was a nice touch to have him be a neighbor of Andy and Karen and already friends with both of them. 

While it doesn't quite replace the original Chucky or the large impact he made on the horror genre (certainly the killer doll sub-genre), there is a place for this new iteration too. Aside from the broadest strokes and a few characters, this iteration of Child's Play is a whole new beast. Some people have said they shouldn't have titled it Child's Play but gone with an original title instead. Then, of course, everyone would have been calling it a rip-off instead. So, it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Instead, they went for it and created a remake that broke new ground and did something different, taking the premise in new and exciting directions. I can't help but appreciate that.       

IT Chapter Two

Stephen King's IT has always been one of my favorites of his many, many works, whether it's the epic novel, the 1990 mini-series, or now the two-part theatrical films. What was started in 2017 with the first half of the story resolves now with the member of the Losers Club coming back together 27 years later to once again confront the monster they thought they killed when they were kids. 

It's been 27 years since the Losers Club had last faced the monster known as IT and now it has resurfaced, as Mike Hanlon (played by Isaiah Mustafa) has discovered. He sets out to recruit his fellow club members to live up to the pact they made all those years ago: if it isn't dead, if it comes back, they return to finish the job. Scattered across the country, they all reunite in their childhood home town of Derry, Maine. Each one had carved out a life for themselves. Bill Denbrough (played by James McAvoy) is a bestselling author. Beverly Marsh (played by Jessica Chastain) is a famous fashion designer, Ben Hanscom (played by Jay Ryan) is an architect, Eddie Kaspbrak (played by Jay Ransone) works as a risk analyst for a major insurance company, and Richie Tozier (played by Bill Hader) is a famous stand up comedian. As they reunite, they all remark how much they had forgotten about their childhoods and how any memory of Derry at all had faded until Mike called each one of them. The only one that remembers everything is Mike, who never left and had devoted the past 27 years working at the Derry Library and preparing should the monster they fought as kids ever return. And it falls to Mike to get the rest of his friends up to speed and unite them all, setting the stage for the final showdown between them and the monster they know as Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgard). 

The film was directed by Andy Muschietti from a screenplay by Gary Dauberman from the iconic novel by Stephen King. The two manage to craft a follow-up that is every bit as good as the first film, if not actually better. The film is by turns terrifying, hilarious, and at times heartbreaking. Muschietti and Dauberman do a fantastic job balancing the tone throughout the film as they craft their epic tale of horror. They also bring back the younger actors for some key flashbacks throughout the film that never feel extraneous and fill in some scenes we didn't get to see in the first film that only strengthens the bond we feel between the characters. That is the theme that runs the strongest throughout both of the films and brings the story home by the end and that is the power of friendship and their unified strength in standing up to the darkness of the world. The filmmakers hit this theme so perfectly that the movie perfectly hits those emotional highs. At the same time, they manage to craft some memorably scary moments in the film as well, especially with our intrepid heroes each having an encounter with Pennywise or his assorted other forms, with Beverly, Richie and Eddie's encounters sticking out, as well as a very tense sequence of Bill chasing after potential Pennywise victim in a carnival funhouse. The film also has a good amount of humor to break the tension and often in the most unexpected places.      

The cast assembled for this is phenomenal and there isn't a weak link between them. You really believe that these are the adult counterparts of each of the kids we saw in the first film. I have to start with Bill Hader. Now, I've been a fan of his since his days on SNL but he blew me away here. Richie Tozier has always been my favorite character, whether it's the novel, the 1990 mini-series or here and he absolutely nails the role, not only hitting every comedic beat but hitting emotional depths with the character's vulnerabilities that had me sobbing in the theater. Jay Ransone likewise impressed as Eddie, capturing his character's insecurities and fear perfectly. He also plays off Bill Hader's Richie perfectly and the special bond between the two characters shines through beautifully. Jessica Chastain also manages to capture an adult Beverly quite well. Isaiah Mustafa has the trickier role with Mike Hanlon having to deliver a large amount of exposition as he gets the other characters up to speed and prepared to face off against Pennywise, but he handles it effortlessly. James McAvoy more or less picks up when his character's youthful counterpart Jaeden Martell left off as he continues to cope with his survivor's guilt, something he tries to atone for when he realizes the re-awakened Pennywise has set his sights on a kid roughly the same age as Georgie that lives in his childhood home. Jay Ryan doesn't have as much to play with in his role as adult Ben Hanscom, but does the most with what he has since much of his arc has to do with his unrequited love for Beverly, who as kids was crushing on Bill instead. I also appreciated that when we are first introduced to adult Ben, we get a cameo from Brandon Crane, who played young Ben in the original mini-series in a fun little moment at the beginning of the film.

Overall, IT Chapter Two is a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to an epic tale of the power of friendship. By turns frightening, funny and emotional it captures the spirit of the original novel. Rather than be a simple monster movie or horror movie, much like the novel, it finds it's real strengths in it's characters and with them at the forefront injects the film with a surprising amount of heart and emotion behind the scares and shocks, which gives the film more depth that your average cinematic horror film and is all the better for it. Clocking in at an impressive 2 hours and 45 minutes, the film flew by for me as I got pulled into the continuing adventure of a group of friends I have loved for almost 30 years now, ever since I saw the original 1990 mini-series. I've always had a strong affinity for this story. Probably because growing up I was part of a group of friends that very well could've been the Minnesota chapter of the Losers Club. And I say that with the utmost affection.