Good, not great. Fine style, muddled finish

Rating: Null/10 (7 June 2015)

IT FOLLOWS is a good, not great, movie. I appreciated how it patterned itself on Carpenter's HALLOWEEN with a dash of THE RING and an overlay of Cronenberg's early 'body horror' films. And, it even winks at the audience about those homages with characters watching TUBE TV sets with rabbit ears etc. The story is about a disease that is passed on by sexual partners and the only 'cure' is to pass it to someone else.
Stylistically, it's fine, but the last act of the film is unsatisfying. The themes, though potent, never really come together. Still, it's worth seeing as a respite from all the torture porn and shrill shock-cut movies that usually pass for 'horror films' these days. My issue with the last act of the movie is that it simply isn't as strong, nor as powerful as the first 2/3. Compare IT FOLLOWS to its acknowledged 'inspirations' (if this were music, this would be more of a slam dunk case than 'Blurred Lines'!), it comes up short: While it evokes the Body Horror of Cronenberg and creates a certain queasiness, it never punches you in the gut the way the best of the Canadian Director's work does.
The ending has a nice grace note, but it never really tackles the morality of passing on the 'disease' to another person in any strong way, as the ending of RINGU did. Or, the way in which the townsfolk in the first NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET shared culpability for what happened to create Freddy.
And, on a simple elemental level, Carpenter's HALLOWEEN has a drive and momentum that IT FOLLOWS' last act doesn't come close to re-creating. Obviously, Michael Myers doesn't have nearly the symbolic value as the 'disease' does in the newer movie, but, as a 'Horror Film' it picks up the tension as it goes along. IT FOLLOWS slacks as it stumbles towards it's conclusion. Part of it, is that there is a certain inevitability to how it will 'conclude', yet Director David R. Mitchell tries hard to follow the template of a typical 'horror ending', complete with the big pool 'climax'. (but, the savvy viewer should know that it's all much ado about very little). It also makes the (seemingly certain) idea of a sequel even more pointless than usual: It Follows Again? It Follows Yet Again? It's Still Following?