Movies: "It Follows" Won't Leave You Alone

“It Follows” is the latest supernatural horror film to be released in theaters from writer and director David Robert Mitchell.  The story tells of a young girl named Jay (Maika Monroe), who, after a sexual encounter, is soon stalked by an unknown entity that will kill her if it touches her. 

This movie was originally released to a much smaller and limited distribution, but, due to its growing popularity through word-of-mouth, the film got a wider release on the March 20 weekend.  All I have to say about that is thank goodness it did get a wider release. 

 “It Follows” has the feel of a classic 70s/80s horror film, along the likes of John Carpenter’s “Halloween” and “Assault on Precinct 13,” with an awesome performance from Maika Monroe and a story that makes the audience ask questions and keeps them on the edge of their seat. 

I’m sure the first thing some of you are probably thinking is that the film is making some sort of allusion to AIDS or any kind of STD, and you could see it that way.  

When Jay first gets the disease, the transmitter of the “thing” tells her that it will follow her unless she has sex with someone else.  Eventually she does have sex with someone else, but the mysterious entity still follows her, which could be saying that a disease of that type can’t be eliminated so simply.  

Another note to make about this apparition is that it can take on any form, which probably warrants discussion in and of itself. 

There’s no doubt that the writer and director, David Robert Mitchell, was inspired by the horror and thriller films of the 70s and 80s, and it can be seen in the shooting style.  The cinematographer, Mike Gioulakis, features many pan and scan shots, zoom ins, and tracking shots. 

The constant zooms I would normally find annoying, but I definitely saw what he was going for in the film.  It seemed to me that when he used the method it would always zoom in on our hero almost as if it was zeroing in on her like the T-800 from “The Terminator.” 

Even the soundtrack, by Disasterpeace, brings to mind the works of John Carpenter and the work he did for his films.  One of the posters made also brings to mind many posters from that era, particularly reminiscent of the posters for the Mike Nichols’s movie “Silkwood” and Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver.”

Also, using the setting of Detriot, Michigan, adds a lot to the film.  The decaying neighborhoods give an appropriate sense of lost innocence and things going downhill. 

I’m also happy to see Maika Monroe getting more work.  I first saw her in the also amazing 70s/80s inspired action/thriller/horror film “The Guest,” and with these two films under her belt, she could be this generation’s Jamie Lee Curtis.  Here’s hoping she becomes an awesome comedic or action heroine. 

But the best thing about the film is that there are no jump scares!  Okay, there is maybe one or two, but they aren’t fake outs.  They add to the already creepy atmosphere and tone and keep the audience in suspense.  Thank you, David Robert Mitchell!

So in case you can’t tell, I highly recommend this movie, because it has a great creepy atmosphere, an awesome lead performance from Maika Monroe, and an interesting and thought provoking story.