It

THE GIST: It's the summer of 1989 and in the tranquil town of Derry, Maine, children start inexplicably going missing. A group of seven misfit kids, bullied at school or at home, become friends and by confiding into one another figure out they've all seen the same scary clown, Pennywise, who seems to know all their deepest and darkest fears, which he happily exploits to terrorize them. More research reveals that the disappearance of children is something that's been happening cyclically in Derry every 27 years. Is Pennywise somehow responsible for them?

I still consider Stephen King's It one of the best books I ever read. It was many years ago, but I still remember the story quite well.

The book had been adapted before, for the small screen I believe, but quite unsuccessfully. This movie adaptation though has captured the essence of the novel to blood-curdling effect.

Jaeden Martell, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Wyatt Oleff are perfectly cast as the terrorized group of kids who decide to take on It, brought to life scaringly well by Bill Skarsgård.

THE BOTTOM LINE: If you like horror movies, don't miss It. This is only the first part, since thankfully the producers decided to adapt the very long King book into two parts. This movie is scary, but scary good.

Grade: 8.5