Directed by: David Robert Mitchell.
Written by: David Robert Mitchell.
Starring: Maika Monroe (Jay Height), Keir Gilchrist (Paul), Jake Weary (Hugh / Jeff), Lili Sepe (Kelly Height), Olivia Luccardi (Yara), Daniel Zovatto (Greg Hannigan), Bailey Spry (Annie).
If
you have read anything about It Follows, the terrific new horror film by David
Robert Mitchell, it probably sounds like any number of other, post-John
Carpenter’s Halloween, slasher movie. Yes, this is another film in which a
beautiful, suburban teenage girl engages in sexual activity, and then is
stalked by a killer of some sort for the rest of the film – perhaps as
punishment for daring to have a sexual appetite. Carpenter (who is clearly an
huge influence on this film) kind of established that premise with his 1978
original, low budget shocker – and it’s been copied ever since in all the
Halloween sequels – not to mention the Friday the 13th, Nightmare on
Elm Street and seemingly hundreds of other, lesser known knock-offs. The idea
has been done to death, and satirized to death (sometimes in those very sequels
that are still engaging in the same plot) – and the whole thing has become a
tired, horror movie cliché. Why, then, does it work so amazingly well in It
Follows? Partly, it’s because of the way director Mitchell shoots the film –
lots of long, unbroken shots, with a swirling camera. Part because of the way
the “killer” (which takes on different forms) stalks its victims – you’ve seen
“slow” killers before, but never this slow. It gets you not because of its
speed, but because it seemingly cannot be killed, and will never stop coming
for you. You can outrun it for a while, but eventually, it will be right there
again. But mainly it’s because Mitchell does unexpected things with the group
of friends he centers his movie on. Even without this killer stalking them, this
group would have enough drama to fill a movie – there is more than enough
hormones, lust, petty jealousies and heartbreak going through this group to
keep the movie fascinating, even when Mitchell isn’t trying to scare you (which
he does expertly). It’s also because of the way Mitchell portrays sex itself in
the movie – there is no “slut shaming” going on in It Follows, unlike many
horror films. The characters are not being “punished” for their transgressions.
The movie doesn’t really paint as neither good nor bad for their young
characters – rather, it portrays it as having the potential to be either of
those things – and how one mistake can haunt you for the rest of your life.
The
movie stars the talented Maika Monroe, from last year’s great horror movie The
Guest (which not enough of you saw!) as Jay, a teenage girl out of high school,
but not quite in college yet. She’s dating a new guy – slightly older, named
Hugh (Jake Weary), and although they haven’t had sex yet – she knows they will
soon, and is looking forward to it, in a slightly dreamy, naïve way (no, she is
not a virgin – but her romantic ideals around sex still mark her as somewhat
immature). Eventually, Hugh and Jay do have sex – in his car, and in the post
coital period, he shocks her by knocking her out with chloroform – when she
comes to, she is tied to a chair. Hugh did this not to hurt Jay – at least not
more than he already has – but to tell her what to expect. He has just passed
something to her – and it’s something she can only get rid of by having sex
with someone else. Someone or something will follow her – it may be someone she
knows, maybe not, it may appear alive, it may not – but a few things are clear:
it won’t stop until it kills her and no one else can see it. And if Jay lets it
kill her, then the presence will immediately go back to trying to kill Hugh
again, so at best, this is a temporary reprieve that you can never truly shake.
I
know this probably sounds slightly ridiculous – but believe me, it isn’t
(besides, go through the basic plot of pretty much any horror movie, and they
all sound ridiculous, don’t they?). As Roger Ebert never tired of saying “A
movie isn’t about what it’s about – it’s about how it’s about it” (or something
like that anyway). What It Follows does is take that ridiculous premise, and
play off those previous horror movie clichés, to make a film that both scary
and disturbing – and more so the later than the former. As Jay enlists more of
her friends to try and help her, the group dynamics become clear. Paul (Keir
Gilchrist) looks longingly at Jay – it’s clear he’s in love with her, and she
thinks of him as little more than a friend, and although she toys with him a
little, it isn’t cruelly. Greg (Daniel Zovatto) is the “cool” kid across the
street – the one with the car and the cabin they can run away to and hide out.
There’s also Jay’s sister (Lili Sepe) and her friend – and they all band
together to “help” Jay – even if none of them really can.
The
movie does deliver on the scares – for the most part. To be honest, the big
horror movie climax is actually one of the weakest scenes in the movie. It
tries too hard to be scary, and is undercut at least a little by the inherent ridiculousness
of the killer – something that doesn’t hurt the rest of the movie, because it
doesn’t have the kind of sustained, physical confrontation with it. The rest of
the scare scenes in the movie work remarkably well though. This isn’t a bloody
movie by any means, and neither does it rely on cheap scares. The “killer”
makes George A. Romero zombies look like sprinters. What the movie does
remarkably well is building a mounting sense of inescapable dread.
The
movie is even more disturbing and unsettling than scary though – especially as
it moves along, and its implications become clear. Yes, It Follows could very
well be read as a metaphor for an STD or unwanted pregnancy – if you want it
to. But I think the implications of the movie and its view of sex are far more
universal, and somewhat saddening.
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