‘It Follows’ Review: A New Cult-Classic

There is nothing quite like the aftershocks of viewing a great horror flick. It forever changes how you perceive things and even go to sleep at night, fearing that a burned child rapist with a claw will creep into your dreams and hack away at you. These genre movies do not come around often—films that rise above general horror conventions and leave their mark on moviegoers, but it has come along early in 2015 with “It Follows.”

David Robert Mitchell’s second feature film that lit up last year’s festival circuit is a marvel from top to bottom. “It Follows” brings back memories of the John Carpenter synth filled glory days featuring riveting performances and a sense of dread that is not found in theaters every Friday night. “It Follows” is a pure cinematic achievement that breaks out of the chains that usually ties down genre pictures and places it in a unique space alongside some of the year’s elite.

“It Follows” begins like most horror movies do, with a death. We begin with a young woman running from what appears to be nothing, frightened, she runs into her car and drives off to a beach. The young woman calls her father, apologizes for not being the best daughter—the next morning the woman is shown dead with her leg gruesomely snapped.

This is when we meet Jay (Maika Monroe) who is with her boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary) at the movies that are when Hugh starts acting a little shady. Shady in that someone or something is following him. After ruining that date, Hugh takes Jay out again. This time it is out to the woods in his car, once again, shady. While in the car they both have sex, which is pretty normal outside of the fact afterward Hugh chloroforms Jay and ties her to a chair.

While in the chair, Hugh explains to Jay that he is now passed on a curse to her. Once with you have become the cursed, a creature is to follow you wherever you go, you are the only person that can see this creature and the creature will stop at nothing till it kills you. There is no way to shake off this creature unless you pass on the curse, which you can only pass on through sex—you are not off the hook though because the creature once it has killed he cursed goes down the line killing every person that has had the curse, lets just say it’s the worst curse ever. Hugh is telling Jay all of this because, you know, he’s a great guy.

The rest of the film is Jay and her friends figuring out a way to get rid of this creature and save Jay’s life.

As stated earlier, “It Follows” is an amazing piece of work. At a certain point after watching it you run out of adjectives to describe how good of a movie it is. Mitchell’s ability to dance around cheap scares that horror movies are usually plagued with and deliver a world and story that is timeless and effective. Every shot in the effectively adds to the macabre, that and the locations. Shot in Detroit, Michigan, shots of abandon buildings and empty streets give the film an aesthetic that matches its aura. Along with the locations, there is the amazing score.

Composed by Disasterpeace, the synth score both heightens the tension in key points of the film, but it also stands on its own. Disasterpeace’s score pays homage to the great synth scores of the 80s while adding a little of his own flavor, which makes for a score just as memorable as the film itself.

A horror film is nothing without a scream queen, an actress that anchors the entire film; “It Follows” has that in Monroe. Coming off last year’s cult hit “The Guest,” Monroe’s displays a range beyond her years and guides the audience through Jay’s deteriorating psyche as she deals with the curse of the creature. Monroe along with the rest of the cast, sell the high concept and add a touch of realism to their performances.

As cliché as it sounds, “It Follows” follows you. The moment those credits roll, you are putting together a mass text telling everyone you know they have to see this movie. David Robert Mitchell’s second feature is bound to make him a hot commodity and a filmmaker to watch in the coming years. Maika Monroe once again turns in a performance that moves her closer to being a cult movie deity. Besides being a great horror film, “It Follows” is a film that can be picked apart and is the definition of an instant classic.

“It Follows” is set for a March 13 limited theatrical release.