Demonic STD

Rating: 8/10 (29 March 2015)

One of the most trying questions I always have for my friends whenever they have just seen a horror film that I have yet to see, is whether or not the film was scary. After all, what good is a horror film if it's not horrifying? I saw "It Follows" yesterday, and I was disappointed at first, but I slowly changed my mind.
Jay Height is a teenage girl who is about to have sex with her boyfriend for the first time. She soon learns that her boyfriend has some kind of demonic STD that causes an evil presence of some sort to follow you until it kills you (hence "It Follows"). The other way to get rid of this thing is to pass it on by having sex with someone.
Jay Height is played fantastically by the up-and-coming star of the movie, Maika Monroe. She shows fear in a very realistic way, and her on going struggle to deal with her fear. One thing this film did that I highly applaud, is that it didn't try to pull the "you are just crazy, we don't believe you" cliché. Clearly there was some messed up experiences going on with Jay, her friends realize that, and they try to deal with the situation. No time wasted on trying to convince everyone that she isn't crazy (which way too many horror movies do). The score to the movie was also excellent, and it set a classic 80's horror movie vibe, which was great. And of course, the premise (demonic STD) was very original so I didn't feel like I had seen any of this before, which is a lot to ask for in a modern horror movie unfortunately.
One of my few gripes with the movie is that it's not very scary. There are a couple jump scares here and there, and some parts will send a shiver up your spine, but I didn't leave the theater looking over my shoulder or anything like that. I don't feel like the movie tried to be scary, and I was left sitting there though. Instead, I feel like It Follows was trying to be a chilling thriller, and it succeeded. The fact is, when this movie comes out on blu-ray, I am going to buy it.
It Follows puts a very unique twist on the thriller/horror genre, and it is a very good movie in that right. 8/10