Stephen King is the gift that keeps on giving. And It, directed by Andy Muschietti, is no exception to this rule.

The clown Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgård) is as terrifying as any villain in horror film history. With his creepy voice and signature red balloon in hand, Pennywise lends himself to be as scary as Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers.

The preadolescent group, led by Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) are called “The Loser’s Club.” Their camaraderie is heartwarming to see, and their curiosity and wits leave them with the most memorable summer of their lives.

To this writer, no other movie of the past year had the combination of drama, suspense and horror on the level of It. And, as with every good horror movie, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

No other movie of the year was able to attract such a wide range of moviegoers like It did. Adults who grew up in the ’80s remembered their glory days of playing in the woods with their friends. People older than that knew that anything with the name Stephen King is going to be good.

And even younger people, most likely teenagers, will forever love a good scary movie to go to with their friends on a Friday night.

It puts the “horror” back in the horror film industry by setting a bar for the coming years of cinema. The stakes have been raised, and I’ll be interested to see if anything else can match It.

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