It follows that it’s Friday and I went to the movies. I wanted to see something innovative and interesting, but I saw “It Follows.” Now I am always going to be looking over my shoulder.
Sweet young Jay (Maika Monroe from “The Guest”) is a girl, first of all, with a boy’s name, but that is the least of her problems. Seems her new boyfriend leaves her with more than crabs and regret, which was the name of my Glam-Rock band. After the deed is done and the chloroform wears off, he tells her the thing that was following him will now be following her.
This thing that follows has rules it follows, along with the chosen person. Though it may look like anyone, even someone you might know, it can only walk toward you and most of the time they are naked. So if you get in a car and drive 20 miles, it just keeps walking toward you, and in a few days it shows up – naked, most of the time. It’s this big, walking, naked, terminator-type person that you can’t kill. All you need to do is have sex with somebody and it will pass to the next person, but if that person dies, it will come back and follow you until you pass it on or it kills you. This thing is harder to get rid of than Hillary Clinton.
The story comes from the childhood fears of Director/Writer David Robert Mitchell (“The Myth of the American Sleepover“). That’s where the innovation stops, since “It Follows” follows all the tried and true elements of every other horror movie we have seen before. The Indie look of the movie helped it seem charming, as it made me think of the bygone B-films of the genre from the ‘70s and ‘80s.
While Mitchell executed the film well, he did not bring anything new to the chopping block. Even the notion that bad things happen to kids who have sex has been around since I was a kid. I was a little surprised these kids thought all they had to do was beat this thing in Marco Polo.
I enjoy a good horror movie. I produced three horror movies that I boldly think are just as good as this one. So you must understand how difficult it is for me to only give this movie 2 1/2 stars out of 5. I am only afraid this movie will do well at the box office and sequels will follow.
Tom Basham is an indie filmmaker. Here is a link to his movie review site: https://bashmovies.wordpress.com
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