Relax, it's just sex Or is it?

Rating: 6/10 (15 September 2015)

I'll admit that my main motivation to see "It Follows" was probably the wrong one I didn't necessarily want to see it because it's labeled as one of the freshest, most original and genuinely frightening American horror movies of recent years, but I watched it because I was literally sick and tired of reading how everybody is talking about this movie on film forums! In the message boards section of this lovely website, for example, there are – without exaggerating – ten discussions going on about "It Follows" on a daily basis and I got really fed up with avoiding all of them in order not to read any spoilers. Usually when a certain horror film is trending or being the hype of the moment, I postpone my personal viewing so that I can't get influenced too much by the opinions of others. There just isn't coming an end to the hype that is called "It Follows" around here on the message boards. Since 7-8 months non-stop already, everybody shouts out his/her opinion and most of them are very positive and enthusiastic. And is "It Follows" really worthy of all this interactive attention and mouth-to-mouth publicity? No, of course not I don't think that any film should receive this much exposure, in fact, except maybe in case Alfred Hitchcock would rise from his grave and direct "Psycho V: Happy Mother's Day".
But hey, at the same time I will gladly admit that "It Follows" quite a few positive aspects going for it. More positive than negative ones, in fact. The basic plot concept is original as well as unsettling, the soundtrack and several unexpected scenes are genuinely petrifying and most of the lead protagonists come across as authentic and identifiable young adults. The successful combination of all these aspects already makes "It Follows" a dozen times better than the vast majority of US-horror releases nowadays, since most of them are either redundant remakes or lame direct-to-DVD zombie comedies. The cute and friendly girl-next-door Jay Height thinks that she found happiness with her hunky new boyfriend Hugh. However, after they made love for the first time in the backseat of his cool car, everything changes abruptly. It seems as if Hugh was only looking for a victim to physically pass on a terrible kind curse. Since the sex, Jay gets stalked by nightmarish entities and ghastly figures. Jay's closest friends want to help, but naturally no one else sees the entities that she sees, and passing it on herself via casual sex doesn't necessarily make her safe. So, the idea is very good and the handful of genuine shock/fright moments likewise, but sadly the film also contains far too many boring and pointless footage. Writer/director David Robert Mitchell often undercuts the suspense by overlong dialogs and extended scenes of absolutely nothing. Unfortunately he also knows that his script is fairly clever, so several twists (especially near the finale) feel somewhat pretentious. Don't count on proper explanations either, of course. That being said, I would still definitely recommend horror genre fans to check out "It Follows", even if it were only for the downright fantastic soundtrack by Disasterpeace. The music fits the atmosphere and grisly images perfectly, and it's arguably the greatest horror score since John Carpenter's music for his own classic "Halloween".
By the way, I just had a daughter. In case this movie will stand the test of time and it becomes a cult classic, I will definitely show it to her in sixteen years or so. Before she starts dating and clubbing, just to make her think twice about random unsafe sex and one night stands; ha!