From director Andy Muschietti (“Mama”) featuring Bill Skarsgård, Finn Wolfhard, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Chosen Jacobs, and Wyat Oleff, “It: Chapter One,” now playing at the Harbor Theatre, is rated R for violence, horror, bloody images, and language.

It is 1989, a big year for an evil entity that has plagued the small town of Derry, Maine for over two centuries. Coming out every 27 years to feed off the fear of children, Pennywise the Dancing Clown terrorizes The Losers Club, a band of seven misfits led by Bill Denbrough, older brother of one of the missing.

“It Takes Many Forms” was the tagline to the film, and as far as staying true to the novel, in these regards, it really does “take many forms” in more ways than the lauded 1990 miniseries starring Tim Curry. Without giving some of the jumps away completely, Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise, through Muschietti's directing and the children's genuine reactions, does a more thorough job capitalizing on the separate fears of the Losers. Moreover, not all fear is necessarily reflected in Pennywise — each character has his or her own demons lurking within the confines of their minds. All in all, “It” carried a few of the cliches of modern horror, but reinvented the classic story — and making “It” its own along the way, while throwing back to the aura of true horror.

If you loved the miniseries, don't float into this film expecting the same. Times have changed as have vision and interpretation. Go see this film for what it is: a well-written, terrifying flick that pays homage to its creator, the great Stephen King, and to what horror used to be.

“It: Chapter One” plays from Friday, Sept. 29 to Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. with a Sunday, Oct. 1 matinee at 2 p.m.