Following in Their Footsteps

Rating: 8/10 (29 March 2015)

Story/Setting
Our main character is a girl named Jay who is a petite, blond, and very pretty girl. She is surrounded by her group of close friends throughout the movie. One thing I really enjoyed about these friends is that they were very believable in a sense. I definitely could identify some of my friends out of the group which made the eerie story more close to home. The story takes place in a 70's like setting which can be identified with the characters' clothing, the vehicles these characters are driving, the technology, and other basic elements. These are definitely done very well, especially with how the characters interact. Many of the characters drink, smoke, and have sex with them being of a high schooler's age. The main plot is about a curse that is passed around through people (only teenagers in this movie) that is done so by an infected person having sexual intercourse with the other specimen. The curse implies that some "thing" will follow the person by walking at a casual pace and will kill him/her when "it" reaches them. If that person is killed, it goes after the previous person. Jay is given this curse by a boy named Hugh. This "it" is seen as someone the person may know or someone they've never seen before, but it will never quit hunting the prey. There is an obvious symbolism behind this which can be identified as STD's, as a sexually transmitted disease is lethal (at least in the 70's) and will follow you around your whole life. I believe the reason it is passed across in the movie is because when a person with an STD has sex with someone usually they don't want to tell the other person they have it, they don't want to scare them off. It brings relief to a victim of an STD that someone else they know has it, so that they can both endure it, just like with Jay and Paul at the end of the movie as they walk away hand in hand, with the "it" lingering behind them. I don't want to give too much away about this movie, but there are some other forms of symbolism and imagery throughout this piece. This is the one thing that the movie does to differentiate from its genre of horror. Jay is seen as the metaphor of growing up, the sense of innocence leaving her body. There are scenes of Jay eating ice cream while being comforted by her friends, Jay running away from the "it" as she takes shelter while swinging on the swing set where she would go as a child, and when she just wanted to go away from her parents with her friends. These forms of symbolic attitudes definitely seem prominent but not too obvious. Comparing It Follows to another movie titled "Horns", Horns has a lot of symbolic imagery included in its cinematography and story, but what it lacks is subtle expression. Obvious symbolic points are shoved down your throat during that movie with its references to biblical quotes and stories. It Follows definitely provides a lot of symbolism, but does it subtle so that you don't have a problem with it during your viewing of the movie and rather you contemplate it afterwards. Overall the story was very unique and kept its tone very balanced in the first and second act. The one issue that strikes me is the third act. Sharing a similar issue alongside with the recent horror movie by James Wan titled: "Insidious", the ending hurt the plot of the movie. At the end of Insidious we see the demon which plagues the main child's brain more often than not which expels some fear from us, when we don't see the monster as its lurking in the shadows we are more likely to become frightened. With It Follows and its ending, the monster appears at the pool for which the main group is hiding. Just like with Insidious or with the movie Sinister, the plot's balance is ruptured as it becomes more action packed. As I was definitely troubled by what the director chose to do with this scene, I was also very on edge by the Jaws like feeling when Jay was escaping the monster via swimming. The limitation that comes with this truly had me biting my nails. Overall it was a very interesting and unique storyline.
Cinematography/Composition
The camera work serves as an homage to 80's horror with its use of slow 360 degree pans and slow zooms throughout. These do become a bit excessive during the movie but what I enjoyed about it is how it served as a perspective giving the feel of searching, looking about. It became tedious at times but afterwards I grew to like what the director had to offer. I also enjoy the lighting in this movie, as it brings forth some familiarity with other directors such as Nicholas Winding Refn and his work on films like Drive and Only God Forgives. The Score of this movie is also very excellent with it's 80's like feel. It's made by a composer named Disasterpeace, definitely check him out.
Conclusion
I found this movie to be intriguing and also thought provoking. I anticipated a basic screamer, gore fest while walking in. I kept imaging what the demon/monster/killer would be projected as and I was surprised about the direction taken. I came to enjoy the movie more once I was actually out of the theater. David Robert Mitchell wanted the feeling of being stalked to plague your conscious and bring fear close to home. I was frightened by this and I realized that the movie made me subconsciously alert. Even with the flaws associated with this critique, they are very easy to look past. I give this movie an 8/10. It's a great movie with some errors here and there.