It Chapter 2

The best of Stephen King relies more on the horror of being human than inhuman. The terror of Andy Muschietti's It Chapter Two is homegrown -- crash and slash abuse and neglect and enervating guilt and fear. Yes, there's a toothy clown (Bill Skarsgård) snacking on the children of Derry, Maine, but that's almost secondary to the hurting the townspeople are putting on themselves. Or maybe this hateful clown is feeding the town's nastiness.This message is introduced in Chapter Two with a lamentably tone-deaf gay bashing that opens the film. I found it a perplexing stunner that got me wondering if this is indeed the movie about the scary clown, until he appeared to finish the job the haters began. Yep, this is the place. This misstep along with the film's excessive length and jokiness (provided by Bill Harder and James Ransone) make for a long, strange trip -- and not in a good way.