It Follows

Rating: 7/10 (10 March 2015)

I saw the trailer for this film, then it was reviewed on Film 2015 with Claudia Winkleman and Danny Leigh, then I saw the positive critics ratings, from what I had heard I was hoping for a really good scary movie. Basically the film opens with young Annie (Bailey Spry) running away from something following her, before driving to the beach and calling her father to apologise for being unkind sometimes, and the next morning she has been brutally killed. Nineteen year old Jay Height (Maika Monroe) goes on a movie date with Hugh (Jake Weary), before he panics spotting a woman at the entrance, whom Jay cannot see, fearful he demands they leave, and this unknown invisible woman slowly follows them. On another date Jay and Hugh have sex in the car, before he smothers her with a cloth of chloroform, when she wakes Hugh explains that their sex has passed a curse onto her: an entity that can only be seen by those cursed and can take on the appearance of any person, it will follow her at a walking pace, if it catches her it will kill her and pursue the previous person to pass it on. The next day police report Hugh is missing, then Jay is stalked by an old woman in a hospital gown, invisible to others, but her friends Paul (Keir Gilchrist) (who has a crush on her) and Yara (Olivia Luccardi), and her sister Kelly Height (Lili Sepe) agree to help her, seeing that she is distressed about something. The four of them spend the night together, they hear a window smash, after some trepidation Jay investigates, then she sees a half naked woman with dark eyes walking towards her while urinating, she runs upstairs, but the others can't see anything unusual, then a tall man with dark eyes enters the room, so Jay flees on a bike to the nearby playground. Jay's friends find her on the swings, and neighbour Greg Hannigan (Daniel Zovatto) offers to drive them wherever they need to go and to help, together the group trace Hug's real address, Hugh advises Jay to have sex with another person to pass on the curse, as he did. The group drive to Greg's lake house, there Jay learns to fire a gun, while the group sit by the water Jay is attacked by the entity, which has taken the appearance of Yara, it also takes on the appearance of the tall man and Paul, it is shot by Jay, but it recovers and continues after her, she flees in Greg's car, before crashing into a corn field, waking in hospital with an injured arm. To the disappointment of Paul, Jay sleeps with Greg to pass on the curse, later from her window Jay sees Greg smash his own house window and enter, she tries to warn the real Greg on the phone, before running across the street to help him, the entity has taken on the form of Greg's half naked mother knocking on his door, it jumps on him and appears to have sex with him as he is killed. Jay flees and spends the night outside, waking on a beach she sees three men in a boat, undressing she walks into the water, presumably heading towards them to have sex with one of them and buy herself some time, returning home she refuses the offer of sex from Paul, the group plan to draw the entity to them and kill it, while in the car Jay spots a naked man on her house roof looking at her. The group go to a deserted swimming pool, surrounding it with electrical devices and appliances, they plan to lure the entity into the water and plunging the devices into the water, Jay in the water spots it, to her horror it has taken on the appearance of her father, devices in the water are thrown back at Jay, Paul accidentally wounds Yara firing at the invisible target, but he then shoots it in the head, it appears to die. In the end, Jay and Paul have sex, and they walk as a couple down the street hand in hand, but in the background a person can be seen behind walking after them, this may be the entity. Monroe is rather captivating as the leading victim, I agree with critics this has obviously taken inspiration from stalker/slasher movies like Halloween, and malevolent ghost stories like Ring, the sinister entity that follows the victims that constantly changes it is a good tactic for keeping tension building, there it a little bit of gore, but it relies much more on slow paced chills, it may not be as terrifying as I thought it was going to be, but it a worthwhile horror film. Very good!