It seems simple.
In fact, the IMDB synopsis goes like this: “After a young girl gets involved in a sexual confrontation, she is followed by an unknown force.”
And that is true. That about sums it up. Our poor little Jay (Maika Monroe- who consistently reminded me of a young Hillary Duff but has the presence of a young Sarah Polley) is seeing this guy named Hugh (Jack Weary). He seems charming enough, maybe a little paranoid because he is always watching over his shoulder. Her sister Kelly (Lili Sepe) asks if she’s done “It” yet and Jay says “No”.
Then she does. “It”. In the back of a car and the nice young man promptly knocks her out. She awakes tied to a chair in an abandoned building as Hugh is scanning the surrounding trees with a flashlight. It is explained that Hugh gave something to her. First thought- herpes. Second thought- full blown AIDS. But it is something else. Something will now follow her until it kills her. Not full blown AIDS? No. You will not know who it is. It may come looking like someone you love or a strange old lady you’ve never met before. You can pass it on only by having sex with someone but if it kills that person, it’s coming for you again.
And only you can see it.
It seems simple.
But there is a lot more going on in It Follows than just a nifty idea. Writer/Director David Robert Mitchell makes his film unsettling at a near-subconscious level with a smart execution of this “simple” idea.
Most apparent is that with this scenario, ANYONE IS THE MONSTER!! Think John Carpenter’s The Thing. You scan the background for approaching figures at all time. And Mitchell does place figures there, walking directly toward the camera, rarely letting you know if it is our menace or not. Very cool stuff. I know what I’m going to be for Halloween. And it’s cheap. You just walk around.
Mitchell keeps you discomforted in other ways. When does this movie take place? It’s subtle but pay attention to the cars, the clothes, the televisions. They are all pulled from different eras, even the future, and it gives the film an ongoing sense that something is wrong. Something is constantly off.
Going along with the setting of the film, the music is a delightful through back orchestrated by Disasterpeace. With blaring synth noise and a steady thump of a beat, Rich Vreeland-the genius who is Disasterpiece- composes an original score that pulls from the best of Carpenter’s 70’s horror scores, making it music fit for an early Dario Argento slasher flick. This heightens the disconnect between a modern world and the world up on the screen. It touches deep.
Is “it” an STD? No. That’s far too silly and Mitchell proves in every frame of the film that he is thinking. What “it” is up for interpretation but I have some thoughts. Not answers just thoughts and when I’m able to get my hands on the film again, I know there is more to poke around through. It Follows is a multi-watch to be sure.
Where are the parents? They are peripheral, laying passed out on their beds or only seen in pictures hanging from the wall. It is a world populated by kids. Horny, scared kids. And the monster represents this sense of abandonment, showing up as parents with a bizarre sexual façade. There is the insecurity of growing up. The fear of losing innocence. The fear of not knowing what the hell sex even is that is called out here.
It seems simple but It Follows is the most complex (and frightening) horror film to slowing walk towards you in a long, long time.