Rating of
3/4
It's Behind You Right Now!
Chris Kavan - wrote on 04/01/15
It Follows is not a typical horror film by a long shot. There is little in the way of outright violence or blood - a few jump scares to keep your on your toes - but, most importantly, it has an overwhelming sense of dread that never lets up. It is also a nod to some of the 80s classic horror, with the influence of John Carpenter's Halloween most prevalent, but it is also one of the better horror films to come along in awhile.
The opening sees a young woman who is frantically running from... something. Out of her house into the street - back to the house, jumps in the car and never looks back despite a neighbor and her father trying to help her. She winds up at the edge of a lake, making a final call to her parents. The next morning she is still there - contorted into a macabre, broken (and very dead) shape.
We get into the story proper with Jay (Maika Monroe) living a suburban Detroit life - hanging with friends, swimming in a backyard pool and looking forward to her next date. The film is hard to place in time - all the TVs you see are old-school tube with rabbit ears and the movies watched are old black-and-white sci-fi classics. But her friend has some kind of shell-based E-reader that firmly places it in more modern times. It's just one of the many ways the movie messes with your perception. It's very retro, yet not at the same time - it's hard to explain - weird, but it still works.
Anyway, Jay meets with Hugh (Jake Weary) and when they go to a movie, he suddenly becomes paranoid and leaves. She finds it strange, but still likes the guy. Upon their next date, she finally takes things to the next level and they have sex in his car - while basking in the afterglow, Hugh knocks her out. She wakes up tied to a wheelchair where Hugh informs her he has just passed onto to her... something - that was likewise passed onto him. He tells her she will soon begin to be followed by a creature that can take any form - a loved one, stranger - but it will always follow her. Walking slowly, but always coming after her no matter where she might be - the only way to stop it is to have sex with someone else and give them this curse. If she should be caught, she will die and the curse will revert back to him. He proceeds to wheel her out and points to a naked woman walking slowly toward them - he tells her to watch out before unceremoniously dumping her back home.
The rest of the film concerns Jay, along with her sister (Lili Sepe), friend Paul (Keir Gilchrist) and his sister Yara (Olivia Luccardi) and she deals with this creeping terror and tries to convince them this is a real threat and not in her head. Eventually a neighbor, Greg (Daniel Zovatto) also becomes involved.
The reason the film works so well is that the atmosphere is great - supported by the interesting and novel choice of an all-synth soundtrack (the pulsating reverb gets under your skin). You never know who is "It" - is it that nurse walking down the corridor, the strange old lady, a girl coming back from soccer practice - only the people affected by the curse can see "It" - but it's not impervious to other people hitting it (or shooting it for that matter) - but it apparently cannot be killed.
I went to early-morning showing of this (on the cheap) and I had the theater to myself and I admit, I found myself looking behind me a few times - the film works. The ending is ambiguous enough to make you wonder as well as to the long-term prospects of living a normal life. Paranoia and dread has never worked so well together.
