On Friday, September 6, IT Chapter 2 hit the box office with anticipation from audiences to see how the two-part series will end. My friends and I bought tickets to see the film opening night, but after the film ended we were highly disappointed with its entirety.

The second chapter of IT follows a group of former friends 27 years after they defeated Pennywise the Clown in the first part of the film (released in September 2017). After reports of mass slaughters surface in their hometown of Derry, Maine, the group of friends reunite in hopes of ending Pennywise’s terror.

I will admit, the film is just as scary as the first part. Pennywise, played by actor Bill Skarsgard, is terrifying as usual. Throughout the movie, he shows up and performs “jump scares” that had my friends and I gasping with fear. Although these parts were scary, there were so many elements of the film that almost made it laughable. To add some background, Pennywise feeds off the fear of others by transforming into their greatest fears (like a huge spider or talking zombie). However, the CGI creatures were very fake-looking and not scary. In one scene, Pennywise disguises himself as a giant Paul Bunyon statue to terrify actor Bill Hader’s character. The whole scene was incredibly stupid and unnecessary. These CGI creatures popped up throughout the movie and made it worse.

There’s something unsettling about the new IT films that I cannot comprehend: they seem to be less scary than the original film. In the original IT (released as a mini-series in November 1990), iconic actor Tim Curry played the role of Pennywise. The film did not rely on heavy CGI graphics to make audiences scared, rather they relied on Curry’s acting skills to horrify children into thinking they would be eaten by an evil clown in real life. There’s something so genuine about the creation of the original series that overshadows the CGI mania in the new film.

I did not hate the film, but it could have been produced better. If you want to see a film with cheap scares and semi-thought out plot, then IT Chapter 2 is the movie for you!