IT appears to be a half-baked adaptation that had a lot of ground to cover effectively, and thus fell short on major aspects. The scares are less, the thrill is nil, just the strong characters and patent psychological ‘monsters’ keep this horror-thriller afloat.

What saves the film from collapsing is the acting by the children, who are effortlessly natural, whether they are just being boys or just being scared kids. As the object of their combined admiration, but with horrors of her own Lillis is both boldly aware and heartbreakingly fragile.

Indulge in this misadventure if horror works for you in spite of the repetitiveness and the good old mirrors, open doors, shrieks and shrills still scare the daylights out of you. If not, go grab a copy of The Shining and let Jack Nicholson do his job.