Going into “It”, I did not know what to expect. The aggressive ad campaign pushed out 6 months before the movie was released certainly got my hopes up, but all too often in the spooky movie genre, the trailers are the only good part about the movie (Urghhem, “The Belko Experiment”). For “It”, I am happy to report that this is not the case.

Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, the story takes place in a small town experiencing unexplained disappearances of children. The main characters are a rag tag group of kids that endearingly refer to themselves as “The Losers’ Club.” Together, the children discover the connection between the disappearances and the mysterious Pennywise the Clown.

“It” does everything right, and then some. The sweeping camera shots and incredible set design set a new bar for horror movie cinematography. The cast delivered some of the most convincing performances in recent memory, and them being children only makes it more impressive. This adaption to the big screen does the original story proper justice, something that hardcore fans were afraid of most. The character development, the plot design, the pacing and (most of) the dialogue are all handled with care and acute attention to detail.

Many times, book to film adaptations rely too heavily on the viewers knowledge from reading the book (Think “The Hunger Games” Movie). “It” makes itself entirely accessible to those with no knowledge of the novel. More impressively, the movie also does an excellent job retelling the story in a fresh way and manages to make the film interesting to those who have already read the book.

The main antagonist, Pennywise, is easily one of the most well-developed villains in recent memory. The use of Pennywise’s ability to become whatever the children fear the most is the film’s greatest tool. Through his transformations, the viewer can begin to understand the children on a deeper level. The evolution of the children from happy-go-lucky innocent kids to a hardass clown-punching team was beyond well-done. And wow. The special effects in this movie are spectacular. Not only did the disfigured transformations of Pennywise look life-like, the director, Andrés Muschietti, used them sparingly. Many directors forget that CGI is a way to tell a story, not an replacement for the story itself. Muschietti knew better.

Despite the millions of details that make this movie great, it is not perfect. Some of Finn Wolfhard’s dialogue began to fall flat as he relied to much on his ability to curse in lieu of saying something actually funny. Despite this minor caveat, nearly everything else was enjoyable about the movie.

The loser gang’s evolution makes for one of the greatest movies of the decade and sets a new standard for horror films. IT has definitively proven once and for all that a horror movie can have a good plot and still make its audience pee their pants.