The film follows Jay Height (Maika Monroe), your average teenaged girl who is surrounded by friends, worried about school, and dating. She goes on a date with Hugh, a mysterious young man (Jake Weary) who chloroforms her then tires her up after a sexual encounter. She is told that something will begin to follow her. It will take the form of strangers, loved ones, family, friends, or some human form. Hugh tells her that the only way she will be able to get rid of it is to pass it along to someone else. But if Jay dies, it will go back to the person who had it prior.
This is the premise. It is simple yet at the same time, complex. The mechanics of it were a topic of discussion following the film on the ride home. Does the person who contracts the "disease" have to pass it along through genital contact? Who started it? Therein lies the super obvious moral of the story: it's a film about the spread of STD's, right? Maybe.
Director Robert David Mitchell has played the true meaning of the film pretty close to the chest not revealing what he is trying to say. At first, Jay, just as the audience, has no connection to the visions of those she sees following her. They are figures she doesn't recognize. Faces of past people who have fallen victim to "it" perhaps? Soon the faces become more familiar disorienting the audience and the characters on screen.
Maika Monroe leads one of the best ensemble casts in recent memory. Her performance is sincere and powerful as she needs to conjure virtually every emotion you can think of over the course of the film's runtime. Being an independent release, the unknown actors add to the overall experience. The actors never pull the audience out in a way that reminds us we're watching a film. Instead, they are part of the all out assault on the senses.
Adding to that assault is the electronic score by Disasterpeace. The music is so prominent and in your face at times, it seems as though the score itself is a character in the film. Pulsating electronic rhythms and sporadic tonalities create a dense pallet of sound for the ear to digest. The films' all out assault on the senses of the viewer never begin to overwhelm, but the film does become extremely heavy as act III approaches.
While horror films being churned out through the Hollywood studio system continue to prove that pop horror is in fact dead, no pun intended, indie films are offering a glimmer of hope to audiences. It Follows is a prime example of what can be achieved with a great script, top notch cast, and some vision. The major issue that puts major studio horror films to shame is a lack of vision. Directors for hire step in to direct traffic on a set, but often enough, don't have any real artistic vision. Thanks to director David Robert Mitchell, his vision has given us one of the best horror film of the last 15 years.
9/10
Maika Monroe leads one of the best ensemble casts in recent memory. Her performance is sincere and powerful as she needs to conjure virtually every emotion you can think of over the course of the film's runtime. Being an independent release, the unknown actors add to the overall experience. The actors never pull the audience out in a way that reminds us we're watching a film. Instead, they are part of the all out assault on the senses.
Adding to that assault is the electronic score by Disasterpeace. The music is so prominent and in your face at times, it seems as though the score itself is a character in the film. Pulsating electronic rhythms and sporadic tonalities create a dense pallet of sound for the ear to digest. The films' all out assault on the senses of the viewer never begin to overwhelm, but the film does become extremely heavy as act III approaches.
While horror films being churned out through the Hollywood studio system continue to prove that pop horror is in fact dead, no pun intended, indie films are offering a glimmer of hope to audiences. It Follows is a prime example of what can be achieved with a great script, top notch cast, and some vision. The major issue that puts major studio horror films to shame is a lack of vision. Directors for hire step in to direct traffic on a set, but often enough, don't have any real artistic vision. Thanks to director David Robert Mitchell, his vision has given us one of the best horror film of the last 15 years.
9/10
