I re-watched It (2017) and then saw It Chapter Two.
27 years after the events of the first movie, the losers club needs to reunite and defeat It. All of the losers have become relatively wealthy/ successful and have forgotten the many horrors of their childhoods in Derry. After a call from Mike Halon, the Derry librarian, the friends start to remember their promise.
The film had a lot more strobe effects than expected. I feel like it was trying to recapture what happened with the projector scene in the first film. While rewatching It (2017), a little less terrified, you can notice how the sound and lighting work to accelerate the pace of the scene and there is some genuine horror as the audience is thinking what will happen next. For It Chapter Two, the trailer shows a scene that takes place in the hall of mirrors (about 1:05). The strobe effect is done in a disorienting fashion and even though it adds to the creepiness of Pennywise, it is not done to the same degree as the projector scene. This scene is more face paced and does not want to spend too much time building tension.
Tim Curry
Of course when something has been adapted more than once there are going to be some differences. Mainly I want to mention that Pennywise’s outfit is clearly different from the 1990 Tim Curry version. His costume was bright and colourful, exactly what one might expect with a regular birthday party clown. While Skarsgård’s costume can be described as “murder clown”, often covered in the blood of his victims.
Bill Skarsgård
In my opinion, the best part of the film was the transitions. As the film switches from 1988/89 to 2016 there are a series of flawless transitions. whether we follow a ballon, or the camera glides from one version of the character to another, it is handled with great care. I actually preferred this to a tinted lens or special filter.
I think It Chapter Two was fine, just fine. It brought a lot to the table with great actors and de-aging technology but something appeared to be missing from the second chapter.
