MIFF MOVIE REVIEW: IT FOLLOWS

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A girl meets a boy. They like each other. They have sex.  Sometimes summer romance leads to a broken heart. But for 19 year old Jay it’s a beginning of a deadly nightmare. Her lover had given her a personal monster through sex. And the only way to get rid of it is to sleep with someone else…

Here comes the first horror movie about a sexually transmitted curse! Ever since the RING there had not been a film with such simple and effective premise. The plot crunch could be laughable, if it wasn’t so terrifying.  And there hadn’t been a soundtrack so effective since Goblins’ Suspiria. The music was composed by a band called DISASTERPEACE, and it plays a huge part in this atmospheric movie about the randomness and unpredictability of death.

IT FOLLOWS is a second full length feature of director David Robert Mitchell and is an inspired one. He has the ability to show you nothing at all and make you feel terrified. Turning a genre on its head he portrays scary the peaceful streets full of people going about their business, while empty spaces, abandoned houses, beaches and playgrounds are a safe haven. In the world of IT FOLLOWS anyone walking behind you can present the mortal danger and the only escape is not to let it to catch up with you.

The movie slows down in the second act, proving that the most original premise can wear itself out after a while, but the inventive final act brings to mind the best monster fights you could see in horror.

Focusing on the idea that somewhere your death had already started walking towards you IT FOLLOWS delivers on every level. It’s hard to get the thought out of your head, that the death’s pace may be slow, but sooner or later it will catch up with you and when it does you will not see it coming.