IT: Chapter Two successfully continues the creepy horror-with-a-heart tone that the amazing 2017 IT began.

Score: 4 / 5?

The excellent 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s classic IT ended with the title card IT: Chapter One, leaving audience members with the tease, that this story wasn’t over. The Losers Club’s work wasn’t finished. Now Chapter Two has arrived and with it the nearly three hour telling of what happened 27 years later. The question is, can Chapter Two be as great as Chapter One. I’m happy to say that at least for me, this was a great continuation of what the first IT brought to the table. Great characters, creepy vibes, and excellent scares.

I won’t go too deep into actual plot points, but I will say I found it clever how this movie tackled the trauma of what happened in the first movie as the building blocks of the creepy moments that each member of the Losers Club experienced. IT knows them inside and out, and torments them at every turn. The sequel really dials it up a notch in terms of just crazy sequences that are a joy to see on screen. Remember that projector scene in the first movie? This movie has a whole lot more of that weirdness. Speaking of that, where the first movie keeps that in balance with the horror. This movie by the end goes much more into the full on odd. It works for me as that is the nature of the monster they are fighting, but I could see some fans of the first getting turned off by that.

What really makes this movie work is some excellent casting of the adult versions of the characters we saw last time. Everyone does a great job embodying the spirit of the child actors from Chapter One. When you have talents like Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, and Bill Skarsgard, you might think no one could out shine them, but Bill Hader continues to show he’s an acting treasure beyond just comedy. With that said he still very comedic in this movie as the adult Richie but he has a pretty great range in this movie. I do have to come back and mention just how great Bill Skarsgard is as Pennywise. He does a perfect job with this entity of evil. Unsettling, and terrifying Skarsgard knocks it out of the park for a second time in a row.

Visually this movie picks up where the last did with gorgeous cinematography that really captures the mood of every messed up scene. Marry that to the familiar musical themes from the first film’s score and you have something that keeps you feeling tense and connected to the horror of the first film.

Did I like IT: Chapter Two as much as the first? I did. It was more of what we got from the first movie with a new adult cast that gave the movie a slightly different flavor. Fans of the first should definitely head to theaters to see how the story of IT ends.