It Follows

Jay Height has just started going out with Hugh. He seems like a nice guy with his flash car, good looks and pleasant manners. When Hugh drugs Jay after they had sex and takes her to an abandoned warehouse, it seems he might be a little more serial killer than sexy thriller. This however is far from his actual motive and instead he tells her that he knowingly passed on to her an unknown creature that will now stalk her. To prove this he even shows her the slow walking beast as it lumbers on its way to kill her. He tells her the only way for her to be freed from the curse is to have sex with someone else and quickly. This will pass on the creature and save her from certain death.

Hearing reviews about a film can sometimes be a destructive thing. I had heard glowing and positive endorsements and great things said about the horror series Paranormal Activity. When I finally faced the films I found each and every one dull and lifeless. It used cheap techniques to wrong foot and disturb the audience but it did them in every increasingly dull and haphazard ways. This film on the other hand had the same glowing praise, universal applause and even a little bit of cult boy love. So i was worried and even put off watching it. Then it finally landed at my door and I finally watched it. I must now say that the film I saw actually left me in a little bit of awe. It Follows is the sort of film that had enough layers to be appealing to a whole spectrum of film watcher. From the casual film fan, who might just want to be entertained for an evening, through to an aspiring film nobody like me. A person who is both shades of a horror snob and a horror geek and who really wants a film to zing. Then it also had something that would appeal to the person (also me) who is an avid film lover and commentator.

The first or casual film fan is served by the lashings of jumps and slow build frights that ever so slowly and ever so cleverly unsettle and spook the watcher. The faceless characters and weird unsettling spaces are enough to drive the average watcher home with at least a tingle in the spine. The second viewer or film lover it has so much to offer in regard to genre, subtext and technical execution. See for instances the genre conventions being twisted here and that in itself will be a series of essays. Sex as a weapon in horror is one revised point. As are the role reversal of protagonist as victim. We have gender roles being transformed. Then the holy grail of horror and the breaking of those who have sex dying. But then again, this is also being adhered to in a strange and complex way. Great stuff, so there is your thesis for aspiring students of cinema.

But there is more and we look at subtext, we can see it is all about STIs? Not totally that is an easy shot. It is more than anything about modern relationships and social order. It is also about society and the domination of class but then again it is about the power of the few over a stronger force. Say for this read government? But that again isn’t all. Technically it is amazing. The camera work alone will be praised. The cinematographer should be given an award for such skill in storytelling. Dolly zooms used to create disturbed and unbalanced spaces. Scenes that start as camera pans and tilts, zooms and pulling of focus lead up to some truly frightening stuff. It is edited superbly and directed with care and wit by Mitchell. The performances by the cast are good and in particular Monroe is excellent. Her conviction adds a connection that rewards the viewer.

A must watch

Interviews, commentary and trailer.