"IT" is one of the many novels written by Stephen King and in this case is an adaptation made for TV and then released on DVD as a movie. Not having read the original novel I can't say whether this adaptation is true to the book but it is bum numbingly long and quite scary in places. It takes a character of a clown, which to most children is a funny and loveable character and turns it into a disturbing child killer which haunts you. What is a bit disappointing for me is that the horror in "IT" is very visual and does not leave too much up to your imagination.

In the small town of Derry, Maine, there has been some very mysterious goings on. Seven friends have been seeing and hearing strange things, which revolve around the actions of a mysterious clown called Pennywise (Tim Curry - Clue). After discovering that one of the friend's brothers had been a victim of Pennywise, they decide to put and end to the evil clown once and for all. Thirty years later, the only one of the friends to remain in Derry suspects that Pennywise has somehow returned to take more victims. He contacts all his old friends and convinces them that they must return as they had all promised as children that if the evil monster returned then so would they.

The first half of "IT" takes place in the 1960's when the friends were all children and in my eyes this is the superior half of the movie. Where as the second half of "IT" is the friends as adults which is disappointing purely because I feel the kids did a better job of acting. The finale to the movie is a bit of an anticlimax, I would love to explain it but it will seriously spoil the movie for those who have not seen it.

The casting of "IT" is like a game of two halves. The first half with the children is very good, with brilliant performances all round, including one from a young Seth Green (The Italian Job). In some ways the first half is reminiscent of "Stand by Me" and the performances are very enjoyable. Then comes the second half, with the adult characters but unfortunately there are several stalwarts of TV series employed as the grown up children. When you have the likes of Richard Thomas (The Waltons), John Ritter (8 Simple Rules) too name just 2 it is very hard to imagine them as anything other than the characters they played in their TV shows. They also had a very hard act to follow as the children did such a good job of creating their parts characteristics, such as a stutter, that the older actors were unable to convincingly recreate in the adult characters.

The main star of the film is Tim Curry as Pennywise the evil clown, who is the only really good adult actor in the movie. His portrayal of the clown is seriously sinister and I have not been able to watch a movie with him in since, without thinking about Pennywise the clown.

"IT" is directed by Tommy Lee Wallace who previously directed "Halloween III" and a few episodes of "Baywatch". Personally, I feel he has done a reasonable job of making "IT", it is by no way the best adaptation of a Stephen King novel but it is also not the worst. Although he has not gone to town with the special effects and the amount of gore, Wallace has done his best, especially seeing that this was made for TV on a much smaller budget than your usual movie. It makes me wonder how good it would have been if the money had been available to spend on cast and effects.

What this all boils down to is that "IT" is not a bad adaptation of a Stephen King book and indeed is quite scary. Although it has numerous faults, mainly with the older members of the cast and the lack of amazing special effects, it is still scary enough to get you hiding underneath a blanket. For fans of horror movies I would say this would be worth a viewing, just for Tim Curry's menacing performance. Otherwise, if you're not a horror fan, the give this one a miss.