The two scenes that felt out of place because of music

I saw this movie as more of a coming of age story with supernatural aspects, rather than a full-on horror movie which is weird because the opening is so dark, but the rest feels so lighthearted.

I couldn't disagree with you more. Those scenes were great and the music choises were brilliant. The rock fight scene was propably my favourite scene and the music really made it. I really got a kick out of it. And I think it was at that scene where I thought "yeah, this movie is really good".

Anthrax and The Cure songs. ;) Full disclosure, if I felt that the songs were inappropriate in these two moments, I would nevertheless take zero issue with them being used because, well, they’re my jams. :p I did start to smile when I heard them. But the reason I do not find the metal song (“Antisocial”) out of place, is humor is strewn throughout the film and the way the rock fight starts is funny to begin with. So to accompany what is happening on screen they threw in a rockin’ (no pun) tune that contains lyrics that somewhat reflects who the kids from the Losers Club are. Idk about you, but to me it was fitting.

As for the other song, it’s funny knowing The Cure are famous for their dark and gloomy nature, and yet this song of theirs is straightforwardly upbeat. Although does it sound inappropriate in the cleaning scene? Maybe, maybe not. The film has no shortage of scenes which show the kids experiencing horrible things, thus having a fairly upbeat song play in a scene that “should” show the young group looking visibly disgusted - they come together instead and help out Beverly very willingly - in order to lighten up the mood after such a dark scene works for me.

I figured with the soundtrack in general they wanted to put emphasis on the fact that the film was set in the 80’s, EVEN if the song choices were atypical (which is something I greatly appreciated). And another thing, I doubt the impact of Stranger Things affected IT’s soundtrack. While I wouldn’t rule it out, this film, like Stranger Things, was painted as a homage to certain 80’s movies and began filming before the latter premiered. Coincidence? I think so. Preferring to hear the original score in many of these scenes instead of “flashy” songs is understandable. Still, I find the rather eccentric result effective and it sets itself apart from the miniseries in a good way.

Yeah the rock war scene just left me scratching my head not just because of the music but the blue screen slo mo closeups and Belch screaming "fuck you bitch" in slo motion just had me feeling a little confused to say the least.

Also the New Kids On The Block poster on the back of Ben's door and the quick cuts/music between him and Beverley, I actually involuntarily laughed out loud during that part much to the shock of the people in front of me. Very strange choices from the director.

Because it's the nicely crafted parts of the film about 80's nostalgia , that's attractive. It's marketing 101, using cool themes and music to evoke a positive response.

The film could of stood on it's own with just that.

But instead. We get deluging with VEHEMENT violence and death to children.

" IT's " made to have you accept brutal violence as normal and positive.

Just look at the stare of the viewers, as they watch this film. It says it all.

I remember the blood clean up scene. I remember it broke up the tension and pacing of the scene and I was annoyed while waiting for the song to finish so the plot could pick back up again.

the movie was made to appeal to nerds

I saw this movie with subtitles last night for the first time, and it was like watching the movie all over again because when I saw it in cinemas, I couldn't understand many of the lines as they went by too fast, but with the subtitles I was able to read every little thing and I found the movie better as a result of it.

And the subtitles showed the lyrics of these songs used, and I thought the lyrics were very appropriate for the scenes.