Comedy mixes with horror in this past week’s most anticipated horror film of 2019. 

It has been two years since the first film featuring Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise the Dancing Clown was released. The sequel follows 2017’s “IT,” adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same name. 

“IT Chapter Two” made $113 million at the opening weekend box office, according to Forbes. The movie features everyone’s favorite terrifying clown and The Losers’ Club twenty-seven years after the first movie takes place. The Loser Club features young actors Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Xavier Dolen and actress Sophia Lillis to name a few. It was this band of misfits that defeated the clown at the end of Chapter One; or so they thought.

The cast that portrays The Losers’ Club in “IT Chapter Two,” which is by far the best portrayal of older characters on the big screen, were played by Isaiah Mustafa, James Ransone, Jay Ryan, James McAvoy, Bill Hader and Jessica Chastain. 

What made the 2017 version of “IT” scarier than other horror movies was that they didn’t stick solely to horror stereotypes. Stephen King is a legitimate artist within the horror film and book industry. The only noted adaption of his works that he hated was the Movie adaptation of “The Shining.” However, with “IT Chapter Two” being in the state it was, he may add to that very short list.  

“IT Chapter Two” primarily showed the older versions of The Losers’ Club going back to Derry, Maine to put an end to It. One thing the film did well was that it constantly switched from childhood fears to resemble the present day adult representation.

However, what cheapened the movie was the constant blows of dry humor and what seemed to be a never-ending amount of pop culture references, vastly outweighing the seven actual scary aspects that made “IT” the most terrifying being in film.

Moving back on to the positives, Skarsgard definitely brought his A game when it came to portraying the deranged clown of Pennywise. He stated he went so far into the character that his own fears have been Pennywise showing up in his dreams.

“We wrapped, and I flew home the next morning'” Skarsgard told Comic Book Resources. “I thought that I didn’t have to think about Pennywise anymore, but I dreamt about him. It was weird. I was back home and jet-lagged and back in Europe and I would have these very, very strange dreams.”

Skarsgard said the role truly messed him up. No one else would have been able to beat his performance. 

Although people have mixed feelings about this film, “IT Chapter Two” had the second highest grossing horror movie opening weekend, according to the Los Angeles Times. The only movie above it is of course the 2017 adaptation of “IT.”