The scariest and eeriest movie since Halloween and The Thing was released recently by the title It Follows. The director, David Robert Mitchell, graduated from Florida State University. This is only Mitchell’s second feature film and it is definitely a step in the right direction.
It Follows works around the idea of a demon following a young woman named Jay (Maika Monroe), relentlessly. What is done to get that demon to follow her is simple, but the consequences of doing it is frightening and in some cases, fatal. This demon can take the form of anyone: friend, enemy, or stranger, and it tracks you down and will never stop. Undoubtedly, the ‘it’ in the movie It Follows seems to be an STD and the D stands for demon, or even better, deadly!
Although there are no box-office successful actors in this film, not one person seemed new to the screen. Outstanding performances came from Maika Monroe as a new scream queen and one of her co-stars, Kier Gilchrist (It’s Kind of a Funny Story) as her childhood friend. There were notable performances by Lili Sepe, who plays Jay’s little sister, and Olivia Luccardi.
The technicality of this film was nearly stunning. The camera work was a variety of wide-range shots, causing curious eyes to peer into the distance at oncoming danger, which is a great choice for a horror movie.
The music score, produced by Disasterpeace (Rich Vreeland), was eerie and haunting, adding a futuristic touch to the clearly throwback intended film. It Follows pulled elements such as the slow killer, a creepy soundtrack, and the isolation of noises to make crowds jitter in anticipation, out of classic 70’s and 80’s horror films while making it impossible to figure out what era it’s actually set in. All that is known is it takes place in Detroit, the suburbs before the 8-mile.
Film critics have even gone as far as crediting John Carpenter as the inspiration to this movie. There were no crazy twists or inner-clique confrontation. The movie is simple and there is genuine beauty in simplicity.
It Follows was released in most theaters March 27th, but not all of them. The search to find this film is another reason it’s such a gem in the load of horror film releases.
