“It Follows” is the Scariest Movie in Years
Jay tries to escape it. Photo courtesy RADiUS-TWC.
April 2, 2015
Horror movies are lazy. The vast majority hobble along on mindlessly repetitive jump scares, loud noises, shadows, and sudden movements. There’s little nuance to these tactics now that they’ve been repeated by generations of filmmakers. The new horror opus It Follows, directed by David Robert Mitchell, is decidedly different. The film proves that the scariest trick a horror movie can pull is a lone figure, focused and silent, walking steadily towards the camera.
It Follows starts with a girl running from it (we have no idea what it is yet) and then one outlandishly, almost humorously gory image of the aftermath. From there, the camera finds Jay (a phenomenal Maika Monroe), a college freshman still living at home. She’s in a relationship with Hugh, who’s nice but seems to freak out after seeing a girl in a yellow dress that Jay can’t seem to find. They go to a beach, and then to his car, and then, in the afterglow, Hugh drugs Jay and straps her to a wheelchair.
Hugh transferred something to her — it could be a demon, or a curse, or a monster; we never really find out — that always follows the person it’s after at a moderate pace. It can look like anyone. It has a physical presence, but only those who are followed by it can see it. Jay can pass it on, but if that person is killed, it is headed straight back to her. She doesn’t believe in it’s existence at first, but after a harrowing scene at her college (one of the most chilling in modern horror), she knows it, whatever it is, is real.
Jay’s friends (down-to-earth Kelly, lovestruck Paul, unaware Yara, and skeptic Greg) believe her almost immediately, which makes It Follows much more fun to watch. Who wants to see Jay try to convince people that she’s being haunted? The group and the movie take liberal dashes of John Carpenter and John Hughes alike, creating a movie that is as fun to watch as it is unsettling.
The film is set in a delightfully unplaceable year (modern clothes and dialogue, huge TVs and glasses, vintage cars, 50s B-movies constantly on repeat) in the suburbs of Detroit. Each scene is composed beautifully, capturing the sprawling, aging neighborhood.
It Follows is at its scariest when we can see it approaching, especially when it looks like one of the main characters. Every footstep is a threat.
The movie is wonderfully aware of itself and knows what to do with its concept. Unlike other recent releases (The Purge, The Lazarus Effect), It Follows has a plan to get every scare it can out of its ideas.
The film is stuck in a world that feels like a suburban dream infringed upon by a nightmare of an urban legend. It Follows proves that a resolved, light touch is all it takes to create the best horror movie in years.
