Movie Review: IT

Nicole Messner and Audrey Chadwick | Raider Staff

The movie IT hit the theaters on September 8th, 2017. This movie was a top hit based off of the book by Stephen King. IT is about a clown named Pennywise that comes out every 27 years after sleeping. He always causes a series of horror-filled events that affect the kids around the town that he lives in. In this particular year that he comes out, he targets a nerdy group of high schoolers the summer after their freshman year. Throughout the movie, these kids have to deal with various bullies taunting them as well as the haunting events that happen when they’re in the presence of Pennywise the clown.

Nicole: IT is a must see! The movie has the perfect combination of horror and humor.

In the beginning of the movie when all of the actors are introduced, thee producers do a great job of setting up their characters for the rest of the movie. Even though they were all young, they were phenomenal actors and their parts were played very realistically.

The lighting in the movie was extraordinary. Whenever a scene was suspenseful, the lighting would get darker which put the audience on the edge of their seats but whenever a scene was happy, the lighting would get brighter to make the audience feel the positive mood that the lighting gave.

Sound effects were also a key point in making this movie powerful. If something scary were coming, the directors would play music that added to the suspense. On the contrast, if something happy was happening on screen, the music would be nice and peaceful. The movie had scary special effects on screen too which helped add to the audience’s understanding of the plot.

This movie was very good, however, it wasn’t extremely scary besides the jump scares but if you scare easily, it is perfect for you.

Audrey: If you enjoy movies that keep you on the edge of your seat, then IT is the movie for you. I have never been a huge fan of scary movies, so when I saw the trailer for IT I immediately assumed I would not like it at all. Surprisingly, this movie was different.

The entire movie had vivid imagery that showed the horror that the director wanted to portray to watchers. The characters had their own distinct role and personality. The music and the dark colored scenes gave a suspenseful feel. The lighting and screenplay played an important role to the development of the movie scene by scene.

I assumed this movie would be strictly horror all around, but I found some dark humor that I did not expect to be there. The sense of humor was so dark and twisty that it almost came off as creepy and disturbing. I enjoyed this movie because it did not come off as scary as the trailer made it out to be. The music equaled out the horror of the clown and the remainder of the character.

I found this movie to be interesting and worth seeing, but I did not find it worth all the hype it was getting. If you like scary movies that aren’t extremely terrifying, then IT is the movie for you!

A capella is making a comeback!

Hannah O’Dea  

Loudoun County High school hasn’t had an a capella club in three years, but that is all about to change. Isabella Wylie, a senior, and Josh Finger, a junior, are excited to bring the club back. Wiley has always been interested in music and she has wanted to lead and a capella group ever since she heard the LCHS’s previous a capella group sing Pompeii.

“I want to form this group this year and have such a big base for it that it’ll stay throughout the year and so when I graduate I can come back and see a capella,” said Wylie.  Another other goal Wylie has is to help students become stronger musicians.

“I want them to be able to be confident in themselves as musicians and not just pop singers who sing like karaoke on YouTube. I want them to be able to create their music and do something they really like because it is a club and they are taking time out of their day and coming and it is not a class,” said Wylie.

Wylie hopes to have around 10 to 15 people in the club. The club is open to students of all grades. They plan to perform at the winter and spring concert; however, once the group is named they will discuss other places that they can perform. Their main concern is getting enough people to form the club.

“The biggest struggle I have is getting people to sign up because that has been our problem every single year,” said Wylie. They plan on singing pop and alternative rock and changing the songs to make it theirs.

However, in choir this year, Trina Cummings, the new president. She stated that her main goal this year is working on unity throughout the choir department. “We are planning so many activities. For instance, we are having a barbecue,” said Cummings.

As the new president, Cummings is looking forward to working with everybody. “This is a great opportunity for me to work with everyone from different choirs. I love getting to know everybody,” said Cummings.

This year choir still plans to make a trip; however, the trip is going to be closer because last year they went to Disney. The trip this year is going to be a weekend trip to Wolfe Lodge and Bushe Gardens sometime in April.

Paisano’s

The staff of The Loudoun Raider would like to thank Paisano’s for its support of our publication.

November artist of the issue: Sabrina Gillis

Fabi Moreno | Raider Staff

Sabrina Gillis adds details to make her drawing look realistic during art class. Photo by Claudia Jimenez.

With each new issue of The Loudoun Raider, a student is selected as the “Artist of the Issue.” Senior Sabrina Gillis has been involved with art since she was a sophomore at County.

Her favorite medium is paper and pencil. “Although I do enjoy using paints and markers because I think they look best when it’s in its rawest form of just pencil on paper,” she said.

Gillis says her favorite artist is Rally Mor. “She has more of a cartoonist spin on her art where she uses women and their demons.”

Another inspiration is an artist on Instagram who posts under the surname Ts-abe. “She has a very realistic style and works with mostly pencil and paper. She brings her work to life using movement by drawing multiple traces and adding them together,” Gillis said.

Gillis loves art and spends most of her free time drawing. “My favorite thing about art is how you can create anything you want; the only limit is your mind,” she said.

“You can ask any artist they’ll probably tell you something similar, every piece tells a story,” said Gillis. She is currently working on a piece that she is having a fun time creating, “The hardest part is trying to get every detail into making it as realistic as possible,” she said.

Gillis is looking into fine arts programs at CNU. She’s been thinking about choosing a major based around art studio or history and wants to incorporate art later into her career.