Lucas Versantvoort / April 28, 2015
It Follows is one of those films that has excellent
word of mouth. You read a recommendation here and there and you suddenly find
your interest piqued at the idea of an innovative horror flick, especially
these days when you can’t swing a dead cat without bumping into Paranormal
Activity 7 or Saw 12. I rarely watch horror flicks, but this one had me
intrigued, so I went.
Every horror show has a
gimmick. The one here is that there’s something that follows youngsters who
have sex. For people who are complaining that the concept makes no sense, may I
remind you’re sitting in a theater watching a horror film? As with many a
horror film, the film opens with The First Victim, fleeing in terror from
something only she can see. As she sits on the beach, there’s an impressive
shot of what she thinks she sees. We look in the distance, but we can’t make
anything out. It’s ashot that in retrospect reminds of me Antonioni’s Blow Up
with the photographs. We try to make something out, but we can’t. We think we
see something, a shape, but we don’t. We cut to the main character, Jay, who’s
preparing to go on a date with a cute guy. She meets him, they fuck, and like a
true gentleman he knocks her out afterwards and she wakes up strapped in a
wheelchair. We haven’t known Jay for very long, but I don’t think it’s a
stretch when I say this isn't what’s she’s into. He tells her he’s not going to
hurt her and that there’s this thing which will follow her. It changes shape
every time, depending on who it preys on. It used to follow him and now he’s
passed it onto her. Naturally, she doesn’t believe him, but when she’s sitting
in class, looks out the window and sees an old woman wobbling toward her, she
flees and together with her surprisingly helpful group of friends she tries to
get rid of her pursuer.
 |
| I doubt anyone likes old ladies stumbling towards them... |
I really like the fact
the filmmakers realized that scary things can happen in daytime as well. When
every horror film from here to Tokyo seems to take place in a world stuck in
perpetual nighttime, that’s a breath of fresh air. The fact that ‘it’ only walks
towards it victims lends the film a lot of extra creepiness. Consider the scene
where the old lady walks towards Jay in the school. It’s filmed in broad
daylight, there’s zero jump scares and yet it’s probably the scariest scene in
the film. These are the things that make the film feel fresh.
However, I wouldn’t go so far as to
proclaim It Follows to be a modern horror masterpiece. It adheres to too many
clichés for that. Consider the film’s reputation. I went to see it, because I
got the impression it was not just any old horror flick. What does it mean when
a film isn’t just a horror film? That it breaks new ground, avoids genre
clichés and so on. So, when you find out that it adheres to quite a few of
them, it’s automatically doubly disappointing. You’re impressed by the film’s
setup and some of the frightening scenes and then the characters start to
behave like too typical a horror film character. For instance, why would anyone
slowly walk towards the place the killer was last seen? You’ve got the group
hiding in a beach shed while the ‘thing’ is banging on the door from the
outside. He blasts a hole through the bottom part of the door and then…nothing.
Out of nowhere, Jay has the bright idea of slowly crawling towards the hole to
investigate. Why would you even entertain the notion that that’s anything
remotely close to a good idea? It’s just making the characters look stupid for
the sake of a jump scare and that’s what’s annoying; not the scares themselves,
but the fact that the characters have to behave stupid for the filmmakers to
employ them.
Also, there’s some consistency
issues regarding the thing that follows. Now, I’m not usually a stickler for
such details, much less in horror, but the film lays the groundwork so clearly
that you can’t help but notice. The rule is that the thing follows you at
walking speed; it’s always walking towards you no matter where you are and it
has zero facial expressions. But then there’re times when we see the thing just
standing around, walking at different speeds or making a scary face. It may not
seem that big a deal, but it’s the rules the film is based on. You’ll
automatically try to think with the characters, trying to figure out the best
course of action, but when the thing ‘breaks’ the rules or introduces new ones,
you kind of feel cheated. At least be consistent in this regard.
Other than that, though, It Follows is worth watching. It’s not
just good horror, but it also plays with a lot of conventions often seen in
horror like sexuality. For instance, the world these characters inhabit is jam-packed
with couples and thus potential victims. Everywhere you look, it’s people in
groups of two. Also, everyone (especially Jay’s nerdy friend, Paul) wants to
get laid. And of course, the fact that you get chased and killed by having sex
is an obvious reference to all those nineties horror flicks that had horny
groups of youngsters and one psycho killer. If two of them had sex, they’d end
up dead for sure. All that aside, though, if you’re glancing at modern horror
and thinking to yourself, ‘man, can I have just one decent horror film,
please!?’, then It Follows is the answer to your prayers.
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