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StephanieOne
Sep 06, 2019StephanieOne rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
The original was the very first horror movie I ever saw when I was 8, and it scared the bejeesus out of me. So I was very excited to see an updated version of this. With the advances in special effects, and Stephen King talking about how much he liked this version, I was expecting something that would chill me to the bone and give me nightmares. I only jumped once during the entire film, and that was only because my cat jumped out from out of nowhere. While I really did like the update to the story line (no spoilers, but they make a huge change from the source material that seemed like it would give them so much more to work with), it fell flat really fast. The things that creeped me out about the original and the novel, the very essence of the movie that leaves you triple checking your locks at night and sleeping with a nightlight on, were sadly missing. It seemed bland, as if they put all their creativity into that one update and that's it. Even John Lithgow, who played the part he was given perfectly, couldn't save this movie. They took the best bits of his character and left them somewhere on the editing room floor, apparently. The only real good thing I can say about this movie is that Jete Laurence was fantastic. With very little source material for her to draw from, she gave a great performance. She was the only one with any real character development, and the drastic changes to her character throughout the film were great. If everything hadn't felt so rushed, I'm sure she could've done even more with her part and really added some depth to the film.