Familiar, not clichéd. Methodical, not slow.

Rating: 10/10 (25 July 2015)

You probably have heard that It Follows is the best American horror movie in years. You probably have heard that so many times you are starting to doubt it. Well please don't. It Follows really is a great horror movie, without a doubt the scariest American one in recent memory. But actually, great horror movies are not as rare in this century as you might believe. France, the UK Australia and Japan have been cranking out tremendous horror movies for the entire 2000s. It Follows stands alone among them by being both a movie that we've seen a hundred times and one that we never would have dreamed of going to. The film is set in the suburbs of Detroit in a time that we don't know. Already the film is working on us. Cell phones show up, but so do corded ones. Typewriters, but modern cars. We have no firm place to stand on. Jay is a pretty young woman, this is about all we know. She is the protagonist. She has sex with her boyfriend. He chloroforms her and ties her up after, so he can deliver a terrifying message: she is now going to be followed. By something that can change its shape and won't stop until she is dead. He drops her off in her underwear and drives off, she can't stand up. The police have to ask if the sex was consensual. And now we come to the fascinating part of the film. The fear of sex is what drives horror. It is a laughably predictable trope: sex means you will die. But It Follows is too smart for that, or maybe too feminist. The movie knows that a woman in Western Society is either a whore or a virgin. So the monster in the film can be interpreted as female sexuality. The inescapable double standard surrounding sex, the ever-present stares of men. This is the monster. The metaphor is far from subtle, but it is incredibly effective, and the mere presence of hidden meaning and symbolism is something to be applauded. The best part about It Follows, however, is it's technical brilliance. This film features some striking cinematography. It would be fairly easy to watch the film in another language. So much is communicated visually, not just the story, but also the mood. The shots are lonely, and dark. You feel sad looking at them. They are also beautiful, ornate and well thought out. The titular IT shows up a lot in them. I especially appreciated that. It was like a Where's Waldo, only finding Waldo was essential or else the great characters would die. The soundtrack is brilliant. It hearkens back to the late '70s and '80s, in films like Halloween. Mostly synths, the music sets the mood fantastically. Director David Robert Mitchell also when to employ it. Sometimes it leads us into the scary scene, sometimes it only comes in when we are already curled up in fear. Of course, It Follows knows the two essential elements of great horror 1) Show don't tell and 2) What's off-screen is immediately scarier than what is on. It should be revered and studied for its subtly and respect for the audience. We come to our own conclusions with every scare, every character change is hidden and we must observe it our selves. It reminds me a lot of Halloween, but also The Shining. Remember the bathtub scene in that horror classic? Imagine that over and over again, and you have a sense of what It Follows is like.