The movie, IT, is a fantastic piece of film-making and not since Stand By Me has a film done so much justice to a Stephen King work and remain so faithful to the source material.

For me it was also a wonderful journey back in time as it was filmed in southern Ontario and is steeped in the summers of my youth. One scene in particular stands out for me as the characters gather at the edge of a cliff preparing to jump in. As the camera pans out I realize it is the very same cliff edge I had jumped from many times at the same age as the characters maybe three years before the movie’s setting of 1989. The scene was filmed at Elora Quarry – a place I would bike the more than 20 kilometers to from Guelph.

The best of Stephen King comes through in the movie – his ability to develop believable childhood characters without any patronizing.

The film was spectacularly acted and directed. The cinematography is brilliant and evocative. Every detail – the writing, the music. It is all near perfect. From the moment the movie starts there is no moment that feels overlong, boring, or extraneous.

A real classic. Not to be missed.