Review of It Follows (2015) by K Nife C — 29 Mar 2016

This film is about a monster that slowly follows you around until it kills you. It manifests itself as a person you know or a stranger. It starts Following you because you have sex with someone who It was Following before, kind of like an STD.

Let me just say that I don't hate this movie. I just don't understand why people think this is a good premise and has a RT rating of 97%, and I don't think it is a particularly good movie.

There are some really good things about it. I watched it twice just to figure out what those things were. The score is pretty good if you like synthesizers (and obviously I do). The cinematography is good.

It seems to be set in a place out of time that is somehow this year and 30 years ago (so, Detroit). I can tell that Mitchell is a competent filmmaker and was trying to capture adolescence when sexuality is budding, and generally make a film FOR horror fans.

I guess that means I am not a horror fan. I didn't find it horrifying, just pastiche to other good movies. And a jump scare (there are 4) isn't scary, it is insulting and lazy. The difference between this and something it is paying homage to is that, for instance, John Carpenter always seemed to be in on the joke, laughing with the audience.

There are scenes in this movie that I'm 99% certain were unintentionally funny because they were soooo bad (like the toothless trucker skank who pees herself). Couple this with the fact that, and Tarantino touches on this in an interview, the inception/mechanism of the monster is so inconsistent and problematic I could no longer suspend disbelief.

Evidently, It is physical because It has to break windows and open doors (or wait for someone to open them) to get to you. And evidently, It is only invisible because a guy who can't see It hit It with a chair and shot It in the head.

So, if you were to fly to Australia, would It have to walk through the ocean to get to you, or would It take a boat? Or would It just appear somewhere on dry land again? And if It is so persistent, why hasn't It killed everyone in the line of sexual partners already? Wouldn't It easily catch up to them while sleeping? Would It stop entirely if that happened? Many of these questions were never meant to be answered.

Fear of the unknown is the most primal fear. But being confused isn't scary to me, just annoying. When I would finally stop caring about It, I would just be bored, like the actors seemed to be when they weren't shouting, running away, screwing or doing something stupid.

And that's the thing - it is a horror movie that isn't scary, barely disturbing, kind of bad in a funny way, and mostly just gross. So, I wouldn't really recommend it, and I don't think it deserves the praise it got.

If you want a good new horror film, I would recommend The Babadook.