It (2017)

You may have noticed that most of my reviews for the month have reported lackluster thrills. I decided that my best bet for a decent scare on Halloween was a recent, popular, R-rated horror based on a vintage Stephen King hit. It was either that or A Quiet Place, and I figure on saving the latter for a while after Tremors.

The fictitious town of Derry, Maine (of course), has a disproportionate rate of mysterious disappearances and/or deaths, especially among kids. A new wave emerges in the late '80s. Seven preteen or early teen misfits rapidly catch on to the cause as it, or rather It, tries to claim them too. It takes many shapes, but you've seen its favorite: Pennywise the clown, often announcing his presence with one or more red balloons.

Dolores Claiborne (1995)

Of the nine movies I've seen based on Stephen King stories, Misery is in my personal top two. When I learned that Kathy Bates had starred in another King adaptation five years later, I took interest.

As is common for King, the action occurs primarily in backwater Maine. Selena St. George (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a young reporter in New York, gets wind that her mother, Dolores, is the prime suspect in the violent death of Vera (Judy Parfitt), a wealthy yet stingy, fussy old curmudgeon who hired her as a maid. Selena and Dolores have been out of touch for so long that Dolores does not recognize her daughter by sight, but Selena sticks around because she doesn't share her mom's seeming confidence in an acquittal, not least because the lead detective (Christopher Plummer) thinks Dolores got away with murder 20 years ago -- that of her abusive husband (David Strathairn). Between numerous flashbacks and reports, we and Selena gradually learn which allegations are true and which aren't.