Has IT reignited my love of horror?

I've never liked clowns. If someone has to paint a smile on then I can't quite bring myself to trust them - even Ronald McDonald has always had me a bit suspicious. My true fear of clowns began, however, when I was very young - around five or six, I think? - when my parents took my sisters and I to the circus. The clowns didn't freak me out until my dad was picked for a trick - you know the one, where the 'victim' has to stand up against a dartboard, surrounded by inflated balloons, and the clowns throw knives - and, being only around five or six, I didn't understand that this was a trick. I genuinely thought there was a chance my dad was going to be injured and it upset me a lot.

'Please don't hurt my daddy!' I cried, and one of the clowns turned on me and shouted at me, 'comically', to shut up. I've hated them ever since and I don't think my parents ever took me to the circus again.

Like many people then, Stephen King's IT has always scared the living crap out of me. I tried reading the book and didn't get past the prologue, the adaptation starring Tim Curry scared me for a long time because he looked so, well, clownish, and then a remake, directed by Andrés Muschietti and starring Bill Skarsgård as the titular character, was announced and, like the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided to go and see it.

The result? I loved it. In fact I think IT is my new favourite horror film.

That's a weird thing for me to admit for several reasons: firstly, I'm not sure I really have a previous favourite horror film - The Silence of the Lambs would have been my previous answer if I had to think of one, but I think of The Silence of the Lambs as more of a thriller than a horror - because I don't tend to watch many of them, which leads me on to my second reason which is that I don't actually like horror films that much. I'm a big, big wuss. Every now and then I like scaring myself, all while knowing I'm probably not going to sleep properly for a couple of weeks.

I've always liked spooky things, though, even though I've always been such a scaredy-cat. I was obsessed with ghost stories as a child and there are plenty of horror films I've seen which have scared me because, like I said, I am a massive wuss, but they've always left me a little disappointed, too. So many horror movies, especially the teen slashers that spawn sequel after sequel, churn out the jump scares and the gore without any real substance, and for so long I've been yearning for a horror movie with characters I genuinely care about and worry for. Enter IT.

That all of IT's cast, aside from the titular monster himself, are children certainly doesn't guarantee the film's success. There are so many fantastic child actors out there, but unfortunately there are just as many films starring children who can't really act. This isn't the case here, I loved the kids and the chemistry between all of them is superb.

I haven't watched the show yet myself, but I have it on good authority that if you're a fan of Stranger Things you'll love this movie and these kids. Bill Skarsgård is brilliant as Pennywise but the kids, their relationship and their personal stories, are what makes this film and that's why I loved it as much as I did.

This is horror how I like horror, with the emphasis on the people having to deal with a terrifying place or scenario or person or entity rather than on that terrifying thing itself. IT has helped me realise that I don't stay away from reading horror because I don't like horror, but because years and years of bad movies have made me suspicious of the genre. Is that fair when books and films are completely different mediums? No, not at all, but life isn't fair.

So I'd like to read some more horror, because I think I'm going to find more books like IT than movies - though, ironically, not the original IT as I'm not the biggest fan of Stephen King's writing style. I want character-driven, character-focused horror, and if it happens to involve ghosts or witches and female leads I'll be even more inclined to read it.

Do you have any recommendations? Are you a fan of horror or is it a genre you stay away from? Are you planning to see IT? I can't recommend it enough, go and check it out!

You'll float, too.