Movie Info
Movie Name: It Follows
Studio: Animal Kingdom
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): May 17, 2014 (Cannes Film Festival)/March 13, 2015 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
I think I broke my leg…
A night out with a boy named Hugh (Jake Weary) which ends in a never-ending terror for Jay (Maika Monroe). Hugh has “infected” Jay with something. Jay finds herself being followed by an unstoppable entity that can only be passed on to others but will always return to the previous victim. Jay with her friends Paul (Keir Gilchrist), Kelly (Lili Sepe), Yara (Olivia Luccardi), and Greg (Daniel Zovatto) set out to stop the creature and save Jay…but it follows.
Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, It Follows is a horror film that premiered at Cannes in 2013. The film received strong reviews and good word of mouth. It received a small release in the United States in 2015 but a much larger release after strong box-office numbers.
Like many, I heard about It Follows from internet chat and slowly saw the movie build speed. I’m a fan of horror, but horror has a habit of letting you down (but a bad horror film is often a good comedy). It feels like horror has been in a bit of a slump over the years, and It Follows might be the key to breaking it out.
Sex is bad for you again…
It Follows is both high concept and retro. The movie feels like classic older horror films with an unstoppable entity (shades of The Evil Dead meets Night of the Living Dead). The classic feeling horror story is met with a nice social commentary of the dangers of sex. The writer based the story on a nightmare he had as a child but admitted he really didn’t want to examine the social aspect. Though the story feels like a commentary on STDs, it could also just be seen clearly as a horror story.
The cast is better than many classic horror films. The young cast brings a lot of depth to the story…this is something that generally isn’t true in horror films. Maika Monroe’s damaged Jay and her friends feel like they were screwed up before the entity began following them…it actually gives them direction that they seemed to lack. The smart cast is aided by smart writing.
Peek-a-Boo!!!
The visuals of the movie really are a throwback combined with more modern shooting style. The film is loaded with slow pans, and potential scares since the creature could be any of the people walking behind the scenes (and the movie loads the film with potential enemies). The entity isn’t always horrific, but it is nerve-racking while combined with the decay of Detroit which is scary in itself.
It Follows was a fun film. It is much more artsy than some may like and the more ambiguous ending might not sit with everyone who expects the monster to pop up in the last frame. I hope It Follows is a one and done. Yes, there is more that can be done with the story, but this is not a franchise. This movie feels like the originality that movies like Jennifer’s Body strived for…but failed. It Follows is a fun ride that I hope will reinvigorate the genre.
