It Follows (Review)

It Follows (2015)

Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Directed By: David Robert Mitchell

There is a common misconception with horror films these days, too many people think a horror movie has to physically scare you to be quality. This means that a large population of people believes that for a genre film to make its mark it has to scare us so much that we literally jump out of our seat multiple times. This is simply ridiculous and flat out unfair to the people making these movies. The horror genre is about so much more than jump scares and cheap tricks and writer/director David Robert Mitchell shows us why with his new film It Follows. Operating as a highly intelligent horror/mystery, this movie succeeds in countless ways to deliver one of the best genre movies of the year.

Jay (Maika Monroe) is a young college girl with all the typical issues you might find with someone her age. She is concerned with school, her family, and of course, boys. The film opens on her the evening before going on a date with her newest boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary). Almost immediately we see there is something kind of sketchy about this guy, but Jay would never have noticed. A few dates later they decide to consummate their relationship, but after sharing each other she finds herself being followed by an unwanted supernatural force. Despite her beliefs that it may all be in her head she can't take the insanity anymore and decides to find out what has happened to her. What she and her friends find is more than they ever thought possible in this world.

With so many major horror releases these days going for the "go big or go home" approach where they try to make a movie so over the top and ridiculous people are forced to talk about them, it is incredible to see a film that operates so well on such simplistic ideas. This film doesn't at all try to go over the top with its story or effects to make you scared and uncomfortable, it actually uses as little as possible to do so. It all starts and finishes with the film score, composed by Rich Vreeland (a.k.a. Disasterpeace) and it is a character all its own. The score adds an amazing amount of atmosphere and emotion to each and every scene. Right from the opening scene his score makes an immediate mark on you and by the end of the film it will be one of the things you remember most.

Music is just music however and without the right setting, characters, and cinematography it is all for nothing. It Follows doesn't fail in any of those respects as it is an amazingly well made film from top to bottom. The story is small in scale thus making it a rather intimate setting where you come to know who each and every character is without being given huge backstories on them. Just the way they all carry themselves and their dialogue between each other shapes them into the very people they are supposed to be. Maika Monroe is stunning in the lead role and I look forward to seeing her career grow from here on out.

What impresses me the most with this film however is how simple it is. They never rely on big special effects or cheap pop-out scares to keep the audience in the movie. Instead they trigger some of our more primal fears and play with things that shouldn't scare us, but do. Much of this has to do with our societal instinct to sexualize every person we see and how uncomfortable the general population has become with our own naked bodies. Most of the movie, what is meant to scare you (and definitely will) is nothing more than a normal person dressed to make you uncomfortable, a feeling you will feel often while watching this.

That's not to say the plot doesn't land, this movie certainly isn't all music and cinematography. David Robert Mitchell created a fun little horror mystery done in a spirit we haven't seen too much of in the genre lately. When the movie isn't dazzling you with its music, wide shots or scares it keeps you thoroughly entertained as you watch this group of young adults try and solve a mystery out of their world. It seems every other day I see someone trying to tell me horror is dead and every day they couldn't be more wrong. This year alone we have seen a number of wildly impressive new genre flicks, you just have to look for them. It Follows is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and on multiple VOD outlets, any horror junkies should consider this a must see and for the casual fan it will serve as a nice reminder of why the genre should always be around.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later