Jay is a young college student living in the Detroit area. She used to daydream about being old enough to go on dates. She pictured herself holding hands with her boyfriend. All she longed for was the freedom that adulthood had to offer. Once these dreams become a reality, she is faced with the new haunting reality that something out there is following her.
“It Follows,” directed by David Robert Mitchell, aims to prey on the human imagination by creating an ominous monster that is always following. After having sex for the first time with her boyfriend, Hugh, Jay is told a mysterious “thing” will now be following her.
Hugh tells her someone gave it to him and that all she can do is pass it on to someone else. No matter where she is, it is out there somewhere walking straight for her.
It won’t rest, it won’t give up and all it does is follow. At first Jay believes she is going crazy because no one else can see it. However, it soon becomes clear only she and those who had it previously can see it. She first tries to hide from it but when that doesn’t work, she tries passing it on.
While this works for a short period of time, soon it shows up on her doorstep again. Hanging onto their sanity by a thread, Jay and her rag tag friends try everything to get out of harm’s way.
The film aims to make the viewer uneasy and does so masterfully. The ominous feeling that it is always out there makes the film very creepy even though most of the scenes involve very dull daily tasks. The concept that it can look like anyone or anything was awesome because it left the audience guessing where it was located.
The musical score used in the film was fantastic and added to the mysterious feeling. At times, audience members can find themselves jumping at the music even if nothing scary happened in the film. The out-of-this-world cinematography meshed perfectly with the mystery feeling.
One scene the camera spins slowly so we can see Jay and her friends talking, unaware that it is very close and walking straight for them.
The only downfall of the film was that there was almost no backstory as to where this monster originated. It would have been interesting to know how everything had started.
It is easy to see why “It Follows” garnered high praise from critics and audiences across the nation. With its excellent cast, musical score and refreshingly new plot, “It Follows” is one of the best American-made horror films to date.
