Stephen King’s latest adaptation of “It” returned in a big way twenty-seven years after the original miniseries was first introduced. Not letting fans or critics down, “It” managed to rake in an estimated $123.1 million its opening weekend according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Stephen King is widely recognized as one of the most successful horror story writers of all time. Before “It” ever reached the big screen, the film was originally a novel written by King in the 1980s, which was later turned into a two-part miniseries that aired in 1990. It finally got a chance to become a feature film this year.

The movie, which dates back to the 1980s, centers around a group of teenagers outcast in a fictional town called Derry. Local teenagers Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff), and Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor) seem to be the only ones who notice people going missing apparently every day. They ambitiously try to find out who is causing these incidents as they run into “It” along the way.

“It,” aka Pennywise, is a psychopathic clown who finds satisfaction from people’s fear. Pennywise tries to harass these teenagers throughout the film by exposing them to their worst fears through every individual encounter. Instead of breaking, the teenagers only grow closer to one another forming the “Loser’s Club” as they learn to face their fears.

I’m not a fan of studios remaking historical movies, but this film surprisingly held its own. “It” not only blew my expectations out the water, but it also somehow did an amazing job at combining horror, comedy, and adventure into one. I also found that this film lives up to its “R” rating better than others.

“I feel like the gore and blood are taken to the extreme in this movie, but it works as an advantage rather than a disadvantage,” junior Jeet Gandhi said.

There is plenty of action and individual storytelling that progresses well throughout the film, therefore keeping the viewers interested the whole time. I never found myself bored while watching this movie. I really have to attribute that to the directors and storyboard writers. It tends to be difficult to put a creative twist on horror films; most of them become monotonous and follow the same plot without adding anything original to the story. Even the actors who portray the teenagers in the film are brilliant. Instead of the director giving us some watered down version of how teenagers are supposed to act, the audience is given a real representation of teenagers. They curse, pick on each other, and experience normal teenage problems.

When it premiered in September, people had high hopes that “It” would live up to its mini-series counterpart. Not only did “It” succeed, but it is also being called one of Stephen King’s greatest adaptations. This movie isn’t perfect, but if you are a Stephen King enthusiast, or maybe just a horror film lover, I highly recommend you see this. I would rate “It” an 8/10 for its development of characters, surprising humor, and excellent display of gore.