“It,” directed by Andrés Muschietti, has been brilliantly and originally adapted into a film from the original 1,138 page Stephen King novel, published in 1986.

On a rainy night in the late 1980s, a little boy named Georgie Denbrough (Jackson Robert Scott) is brutally murdered by a shapeshifting demon while chasing his paper boat all the way to the sewer.

The demon, disguised as a clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård), convinces little Georgie to reach in and grab the boat from his grip. Georgie finally gives in to the temptation and is never seen again.

Following this event, Billy Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher), Georgie’s older brother, and “The Losers’ Club” work together to stop the demon from hunting other children.

The movie follows the book’s plot well, only leaving a few small plot holes.

The most significant differences between the movie and the novel is the time period, the presence of a narrator and the character of Beverly Marsh and her relationship with her abusive father.

In the movie, the time period is the late 1980s, while, in the book, Georgie’s death and the first time they defeated Pennywise all took place in the 1950s. This was a brilliant way for the director to set the stage for a more modern sequel to the movie (chapter two of the book).

There are two chapters of the book and the movie only represented the first chapter, so the second chapter must be made into another movie. This is foreshadowed at the end of the movie when you hear Pennywise cackling in the distance after he is supposedly dead.

Another major difference is the presence of a narrator in the novel, but not in the movie. The book is loosely narrated by Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), a member of the original Losers’ Club. The movie fails to recognize Hanlon as an important character.

Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis) also isn’t fully represented in the movie. The movie portrays her as a damsel in distress and focuses more on her seemingly sexually abusive and disturbed father, rather than the large amount of physical abuse she endures.

Looking beyond the differences from the book, the screenplay is absolutely phenomenal from Pennywise’s disturbing smile and sinister facial expressions to each individual character’s script.

Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise easily tops Tim Curry’s version of the character in the miniseries “It,” directed by Tommy Lee Wallace.  Skarsgård’s script was more meaningful and succinct. He was able to communicate his character uniquely through his actions and less through words. Skarsgård turned Pennywise into more of a demon, while Curry played Pennywise more as an actual clown, cracking jokes and constantly laughing at them.  No spoilers, but Skarsgård was able to incorporate that fear factor into the horror movie, which Curry was frankly not able to do.

Despite the flaws, the movie is definitely a must-see for any horror fan. The screenplay is one for the books and Skarsgård plays a brilliant Pennywise (or It) that strikes fear into the hearts of anyone watching.

The character It is not a he or a she. This It can’t breathe or see. It is in fact fear itself, taking the forms of many terrifying monsters throughout the movie, of whatever scares its prey the most.

It isn’t there to scare the children in the movie, but to scare you, the viewer.