Title: “It: Chapter Two”

Release date: Sept. 6, 2019

Starring: Bill Skarsgard, James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Jaeden Martell, Wyatt Oleff, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Glazer, Joan Gregson

Directed by: Andy Muschietti

Run time: 2 hours, 50 minutes

Rated: R

What it’s about: Evil clown Pennywise returns to Derry, Maine, to terrorize its citizens, and members of the Losers Club, now adults, must overcome their own fears if they hope to defeat him once again.

How I saw it: Unpleasantness abounds in “It: Chapter Two,” the second recent movie based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel “It.” But would you expect anything else? “It: Chapter Two” doesn’t waste any time getting right to its disturbing tone, and it does not let up throughout its too-long running time. But it mostly makes up for the uncomfortable nature of the material and its tendency to bog down in the middle with a standout cast and intense visuals that often border on hallucinogenic. It’s a creepy movie all around, more so than frightful, but one you might not be able to look away from.

Its predecessor, “It,” was set in the 1980s, with seven young Derry, Maine residents – dubbed the Losers Club — banding together to defeat Pennywise, an evil clown who can change forms to lure his victims. “It: Chapter Two” is set 27 years later, and guess who’s back in town? Pennywise is, and he’s up to his old tricks. When the body count starts to mount, Mike (Isaiah Mustafa), the only member of the Losers Club to stay in Derry this entire time, summons the old gang, now middle-aged adults, to return and defeat Pennywise once and for all. The Losers Club – Mustafa, James McAvoy as Bill, Jessica Chastain as Beverly, Bill Hader as Richie, Jay Ryan as Ben, James Ransone as Eddie and Andy Bean as Stanley – must confront their own fears if they are to carry out a ritual that Mike says will bring lasting peace to Derry. One of the Losers Club doesn’t make it back to Derry, choosing to take his own life instead of facing the clown again.

The opening of “It: Chapter Two” arguably is its most troubling scene, though there are many candidates for that title. Two young adult males at a carnival kiss, and soon a group of homophobic young men is beating them, throwing one into a river, where Pennywise fishes him out of the water before doing what Pennywise does. The scene is in the book (and is based on a real-life hate crime in Maine), and at first it seems exploitive, ill-placed and ill-advised. But screenwriter Gary Dauberman and director Andy Muschietti came up with a way to tie the scene to the rest of the movie, and it is the most significant way in which the movie strays from the original source material.

More ugliness follows, including an incestuous father and a scene that includes domestic violence and attempted rape inside a marriage. Both scenes and the opening seem almost tone deaf by 2019 standards but also help set up the message of the movie (and book) – that the marginalized and victimized can unite to stand up to their oppressors. Pennywise, who creates imaginary situations based on each Losers Club member’s fears, is the ultimate oppressor.

Muschietti’s approach seems to be more of everything is better, but the more here is too much, especially given the movie’s length. “It: Chapter Two” tries to cover too much ground, and since the intensity does not let up, the horror starts to feel like emotional white noise. Each character is given their turn in the middle of the movie, and its here that it starts to show its length.

But the visuals are at times stunning. Pennywise in the climactic scene is truly odd and disturbing. Muschietti bounces the story back and forth between time periods (the young Losers and the middle-aged Losers) often, but a plot device that could have gotten in the way is done so seamlessly that it improves the movie. James McAvoy stands out in the ensemble cast, and Hader gets a lot of laughs but also is troubled by a secret he has been hiding. Joan Gregson as Mrs. Kersh (an older lady who lives where a young Beverly lived) is every bit as creepy as Pennywise in her one scene, and that’s before she morphs into a monster.

“It: Chapter Two” is a bit of a mess, and a long mess at that. And while it is not as strong as its predecessor, it has enough of what Stephen King fans have come to expect to make it worthwhile.

My score: 70 out of 100

Should you see it? Yes, if you have a high tolerance for unpleasantness and are patient enough to sit through a three-hour film.