It Follows Review

For films that often feature deranged killers and plentiful gore, horror films have often found themselves with a weird moral code.  A lot has been written about how horror films from the 70s and 80s relied heavily on the machete fodder engaging in premarital sex (among other things) before finding themselves as the killer’s latest victim.  As a result, it can be argued these films view the kills as punishment for their behavior, especially considering the final girl was frequently either virginal or completely non-sexual.  This notion has been deconstructed over the years like in Scream.  It Follows, the latest from The Myth of the American Sleepover writer/director David Robert Mitchell, continues that trend of looking closer at these clichés and upending them and is a great sign of what can be.

It Follows focuses on Jay (Maika Monroe, a discovery to me), a college aged girl who is ambushed by a guy she is dating shortly after having sex.  The guy informs her that he has passed something on to her: a mysterious, shape shifting entity only those affected by it can see.  No matter how hard its victims try, they can never get out from this being’s reach.  The entity will catch up eventually.  The only way to get out of it is to have sex with another person, and even then if that person dies, the entity goes back to its previous prey.  Where it came from and why it does this isn’t relevant.

The entity can be seen as an analogy for sexually transmitted disease, especially since that how Jay literally gets it.  However, the connection that resonated more is the one of trauma, and the difficulties of being a woman in modern society.  Jay’s reaction is that of a trauma survivor, and not being able to escape it works for mental afflictions as much as physical.  The fact that the entity can assume any form and is always following Jay ties directly to the fear women have of being stalked.  Despite it being made before any of these happened, it’s hard not to think about this film without being reminded of feminist issues from the past year with the YesAllWomen & HeforShe hashtags, the catcalling video and the scumbags who stole the private pictures of celebrities last summer.

With all the sexist elements being deconstructed, there is still affection towards old fashioned scary movies (even one of the promotional posters looks like its straight out of the early 80s.)  It helps that like Mitchell’s previous film, there isn’t a clear distinction when the film is supposed to take place, aside that it’s likely the not too distant past.  The score by Disasterpeace, like another great recent horror film You’re Next, is a definite throwback to vintage John Carpenter.  Also, the cinematography by Mike Gioulakis makes great use of long takes and depth of field, a rare feat even in contemporary non-horror movies.  Any extra in the background could be the entity, building the dread and making it genuinely scary without relying on things jumping out at the audience.

There’s always been a strong bond between sexuality and horror.  Like any part of the human experience, there is a dark side that taps into many of our fears, but maybe certain fields have been mined for as much as they’re worth.  It Follows is a welcome, long overdue deviation from the usual formula.  The more sexist tropes are replaced with progressive ones.  Jay is the target of the horror, but it never feels like she is being punished for being sexual.  That this is part of a horror movie shows a major shift in horror, and films like this one can only help the genre.

Grade: A-

Stray Observations:

·         His previous film, The Myth of the American Sleepover, is a vastly different film.  It’s a charming coming of age sleeper.  If you need to cool down after this one, I recommend checking it out.

·         Judging by the horror movie trailers that showed before this film, it looks like Hollywood is still cranking out the same trailer for horror movies as it has been for the last 10 years.

SPOILERS!

·         As for the ambiguous ending, I prefer to believe the entity was killed in the finale at the pool and the extra in the way background in the end was no one in particular.  I prefer to be an optimist and going with the idea of the film about trauma, I see it as a way for Jay to move on from the experience.

·       Still, it probably wouldn’t have hurt to throw the other plugged in devices into the pool.  In horror, you always double tap (which could support the interpretation that the entity was following them at the end).

·        For this kind of movie, it has a surprisingly small body count: 2 (3 if you count the entity)