Ominous music plays as the upside-down pyramid of red balloons moves and reveals the fearsome face of a misshapen clown. The clown looks right through the audience with a cold smile and seems to say, “You’re next.”  

This freaky face then vanishes into thin air and reappears right before your face with an incredibly frightening jump scare, making you realize you are about to get what you paid for.

It can be said that good music scores can make scenes and even potentially make movies. This is true with the movie “IT.” Without the shrill violin and subtle music that gets your brain on edge, the movie would be totally different.

The music doesn’t only enhance the creepiness of some scenes and prepares you to be frightened. The wonderful thing about the score is its subtlety. Without the music, the scenes become almost childish. The music brings out the raw emotion and can fine tune the mood.

Normally in a horror movie the acting tends towards very cheesy and subpar. This is different in “IT.” Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) holds everything together and brings out the talent in the other actors. Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), another critical actor, plays the undersized, black-haired friend in the loser’s club who is famous for his wit.

Many times in his performance you expect a comment sure to make the scene a little more lighthearted and bearable. You may not expect small kids to have such large or filthy mouths, something rarely seen in movies.

The fear factor of Pennywise the clown will send you to the back of your seat in shock as he flies at you or does something ridiculous. Pennywise’s best asset is his creepy factor, with the ability to move both of his eyes in different directions without CGI (thanks to Skarsgård). Pennywise truly makes the movie with what may be the creepiest, iciest smiles anyone has portrayed.

As the anchor of this movie and the strongest character, Pennywise is why people go to see this movie. It is the other characters and the surprising little things they throw in later that gets people talking.