It Chapter Two Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

2. It's Just Not Scary

While many complained that the first It wasn't especially scary, it had a lot going for it in the intensity department: the opening slaughter of Bill's brother set an unnerving, unpredictable tone from the outset, and most of Pennywise's sparing appearances left a mark on the audience.

But the sequel sadly leaves viewers wanting for the same feeling for the most part. Many of the "scares" are either unimaginative rehashes of what happened the first time around, or overly reliant on jump scares to the point of obnoxiousness.

The most unsettling scenes in the film are generally more low-concept and focused on Pennywise conversing with someone - in one remarkable instance a child at a baseball game - but the bigger set-pieces end up feeling weirdly generic and lacking in atmosphere.

It almost feels as though Warner Bros. saw the stonking mainstream appeal of the first film and nudged Muschietti to skew even more broad with the fright sequences this time.