It Follows (David Robert Mitchell, 2014)
A masterpiece of modern horror cinema
In horror movies, it’s a well-established trope that if you have sex, you die. (See Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Sorority Row among countless others.)
It Follows takes this concept literally.
Jay has sex with a guy she’s been seeing, only to learn that he’s passed on to her some sort of paranormal STD. He explains it to her that someone will appear that only she can see.
You can run from them, because they can only walk. But eventually they’ll find you again. And if they touch you, you die.
The only way to save yourself is to pass it on. By fucking someone else.
It’s a super clear concept. And It Follows executes on it perfectly. This is a damn fine film.
The characters here aren’t just running around for the sake of bringing on the next jump scare; they’re making logical choices that make total sense both for the character as we understand them, but also with regards for how the real world actually operates.
The cast do a great job of embodying these characters. The central foursome of two sets of siblings that all grew up together is entirely believable, and the actors efficiently convey the shorthand and often unspoken communication that passes between them.
Maika Monroe as Jay in particular manages to turn in a capable and grounded performance that could so easily have gone awry given all the crying and craziness her character endures.
The script is great. The music is great. The effects are great.
Everything is great.
Shout out in particular to the locations team that found the neighborhood where Jay lives. It looks like an actual working-class street that’s home to real families.
This isn’t fancy Donnie Darko McMansion territory, or even picturesque Edwards Scissorhands suburbia. These are bland, dated, authentic houses with concrete front porches. You can tell that the people that live here aren’t rich, but their homes and yards are well-maintained.
It grounds the film and gives it a specificity and authenticity that elevates everything else.
The direction and the cinematography work in tandem to evoke such an unrelenting atmosphere of tension.
On numerous occasions the camera will slowly pan in a complete circle, either to follow the action or to establish the environment. It gives a cool indie arthouse vibe, but as the film wears on, it itself becomes a source of tension.
Every obstacle the camera passes over could reveal the evil entity. Every person walking vaguely towards the camera becomes a potential threat.
The mundane becomes potentially lethal. Nowhere is safe. The person you love and you think loves you could just be using you to pass on a deadly curse and save themselves. The curse could show up in the guise of your own mother.
It’s a twisted horror movie of the highest quality, that is rightly regarded as modern horror masterpiece.
But more than that, It Follows is a stressful, edge-of-your-seat thriller that just happens to be a kick-ass horror film.
Good news: rumor has it that Mitchell and Monroe are belatedly reuniting for a sequel, They Follow, set 10 years after the original. I cannot wait.
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