#51: It Follows

Release Date: March 13th, 2015

Format: Streaming (Netflix)

Written by: David Robert Mitchell

Directed by: David Robert Mitchell

3 Stars

One of the aspects of cinema that I love is the dynamic of how movies age, and how you engage with a movie as you age. When It Follows came out nine years ago, I found it mesmerizing. It had a beautifully synthy, pulpy score with oddly timeless suburban visuals and an original, sinister plot. 

The movie’s conceit: There is a demonic entity in the world that can take any human form and it will brutally murder you if it can catch you. Thankfully this entity only targets one person at a time and it can only move at a walking pace. It also takes no precautions to hide itself. So that’s good. But it’s invincible, and it never stops. It follows. 

How do you get rid of “it” if you are its target? You have to have sex with someone, and it passes this demonic pursuer onto them. And then hopefully they have sex with someone before they are killed, and so on and so forth. If the demon successfully kills the person before they have sex, it then pursues the previous person in this strange sexual history hit list. 

It’s a fun horror plot and I loved the movie when it came out.      

And I still feel this way. I love It Follows. It Follows is interesting and good. 

But I also noticed flaws this last time watching it that I had not perceived before, mostly in the way of execution, not conception. The performances here feel a bit like a student film. The actors are reaching for a dramatic depth that doesn’t always work. It makes me wonder what this movie would be like if director David Robert Mitchell were to make the characters more two-dimensional, a la most ‘80s low budget horror flicks, rather than spending significant screen time trying to establish them as fully round characters. 

This character development, and laconic photography, at times create some pacing issues with It Follows (much like its demonic antagonist, it’s slow), but Mitchell is walking a thin tightrope here. I don’t want to be overly critical of the pace, because what makes this movie brilliant is the slow, steady pursuit by a demon who never relents. We, the audience, should feel that slowness.

And in researching It Follows, I found out that Mitchell is currently shooting a sequel entitled They Follow. It took him roughly ten years to get around to making it, but he finally got there. That seems fitting.