"It, Chapter Two" Gets The Horror Right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But Its Venturing Into Quesitonable Areas Left A Bad Taste In My Mouth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                   Of course, darlings, you all have to see "It, Chapter 2."  There are many things the movie gets right--the giant spider in the cave, for example, though that is given a campy twist I could have done without, but at least it is not some paper mache project any toddler could have made, and kicked to pieces with his foot.

                                     The movie opens with a gay bashing I found so questionable, I thought about getting up and walking out.  What stopped me was I had forgotten the book--which I had read at least twenty years ago--had a gay component.  This incident is in the book, and what's more is based, I discovered, on a real life event--the July 7, 1984 murder of Charlie Howard, 23, and an asthmatic, who was harassed beaten, and thrown into a river, to drown, just as in the film.

                                        I never thought of Stephen King as a homophobe, and I don't, now. But his stories are not known for having gay components, though he does have compassion for outsiders.  After all, he definitively skewered mean girls on his first try, "Carrie."

                                          The scene struck me as so horrible that there will be another post, coming soon, on the real life murder of Charlie Howard.  Whose story needs to get out there.

                                            The movie is well cast and acted, but, I have to say, the kids still out act the adults.  The best of the lot are Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain, and James McAcvoy. And, of course, Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise, though he is a bit over the top.

                                                What I cannot buy is Bill Hader's character being gay, let alone having feelings for Eddie (James Ransone).  Hader displays none of the classic mannerisms and traits of the closet case--an enforced straightness, a stand offishness,  and an almost Republican mentality which may or may not be manufactured, which signals why these types are dangers to themselves, and others.

                                                      You know what?  I didn't care.  AII I cared about was them getting Pennywise.  And they do.

                                                         I also got nothing about Eddie having feelings for Richie.

                                                          Maybe I am missing something, and, if so, tell me.  But, these things aside, the movie is too long, too taxing, and too incomprehensible to younger and less sophisticated viewers.

                                                            I took comfort, at the end, in knowing there would not be
a Chapter 3.

                                                             Until I saw the box-office grosses for the weekend!

                                       But the visuals were great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!