IT

(2017) Think "Stranger Things" meets Freddy Krueger in pancake makeup. Children in Derry, Maine are disappearing. It hangs over the town like a ghostly pallor no one will talk about, even as the "Missing" flyers go up ... and it becomes very personal to young teen Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) when his kid brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) heads out during a rainstorm to try out a paper sailboat Bill has just made and sealed up with wax for him ... and also disappears. By far, one of the most disturbing scenes in It is when, in the opening minutes of the film, we as the viewers get to see what happens to Georgie, whose boat gets away from him, sailing in the dirty rainwater curbside until it sails through a sewer grating - and in his effort to get it back, Georgie learns that a delightful clown named Pennywise has found it for him. Pennywise lives in the sewer, you see, where - he assures Georgie - "We all float down here!" before literally snatching Georgie off the rainy street. A couple years later, still haunted by Georgie's absence and the disappearances of Derry kids (as well as the mutilated remains of those missing who are found), Bill and his close friends are all having visions, dreams, of the red-haired Pennywise (as well as other nightmarish creatures) out to get them - and Bill, refusing to let Georgie go, bands the group of "Losers" together to bring Georgie home. Based on the telephone book-sized Stephen King novel, the film version of It most assuredly ratchets up the action, suspense, violence and fear factor of the 1990 miniseries that starred Tim Curry as the infamously evil clown. Here, Bill Skarsgard tones down the mania from Curry's version, doling out his sinister creepiness with a simple "I dare you to 'f' with me" smile and eyes that could seemingly bore through granite. The CGI effects used for Pennywise's more outrageous manifestations distract a bit toward the end, but Skarsgard has no doubt picked up the gauntlet and makes the character his own. This is the first of two planned films - the second will take over with the kids as adults, when Pennywise proves he is not finished with them yet - and while the miniseries was well-made and had an excellent cast, as well as its share of chills (right up to the ridiculous final battle), this feature film version of It feels more mature; it's depths rooted in the pensive, beleaguered, yet oh-so-angry face of Bill Denbrough, who fights his fears to find his brother. The young cast is outstanding, Lieberher award-worthy - the film not so much about an evil clown as it is about the childhood fears that haunt us all ... often well into adulthood. (rated R)  9/10 stars