“IT Chapter Two” was one of the most hilarious movies of the year. It tried its best to convince me that its relentless jump scares were frightening, but the poor use of CGI coupled with overbearing music and weak acting didn’t convince me. 

Set 27 years after its predecessor, “IT Chapter Two” follows the Loser’s Club once again, drawn back to their childhood home to defeat an impossibly powerful evil. That evil takes the shape of Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård). Skarsgård gives a solid performance, but certain physical aspects of the character came off as confused. Although there is merit in making Pennywise look and act cartoonish, in the end, these moments came off as just plain hilarious, and not creepy as intended. This movie continually beats the viewer over the head with an inflatable cartoon mallet rather than using subtlety to create a truly chilling experience.

Besides Pennywise, the only even slightly compelling characters were Eddie (James Ransone), Richie (Bill Hader), and Ben (Jay Ryan). Ransone and Hader played off each other pretty well, and I enjoyed their juvenile dynamic. 

However, even the best actors failed to impress. Hader failed to produce a convincing performance at a critical point in the movie and broke the immersion. Specifically, although he was supposed to be crying, his face was completely dry. 

That being said, the casting was as good as it could be. All the adults looked almost exactly like you would expect older versions of the previous movie’s cast to look, Eddie and Richie especially.

The score, however, was a definite low point in the film. It was completely overbearing and stopped only to add “suspense” to a scene before blaring along with a jumpscare. It was generic run of the mill horror music, but the worst part was that it was so loud that it often drowned out the actors’ voices. 

All in all, this movie was a disaster, failing at everything it tried to accomplish. I would encourage everyone reading this to go out with some friends and see it because of how much fun I had laughing at it, but it doesn’t deserve your money. I give “IT Chapter Two” a 4/10.