This Little Indie film, since its release, has become a modern classic of the Horror genre, and it is well deserved.
Young college student Jay Height goes on a date to a movie with her boyfriend and has sex with him afterwards. Following this, she then finds herself pursued by a slow-moving entity, due to a curse that can only be passed along through intercourse.
Writer/Director David Robert Michell does a fantastic job of crafting a premise that is simple to understand yet still leaves room for the audience's imagination. It's simple in that we know nothing about the said entity of this film except how you get it and what it does. There is no deep dive into the history of this curse or how it came to be in the first place, and we honestly don't need or even want that told to us. This is because Mitchell understands that it's the concept, not the lore, that draws us in. It's that concept and how Mitchell presents it that make this film excel. It's not so much going for scares, but raising anxiety. The entity can take multiple human forms, even those of people the person knows, but it's slow-moving, and you may not have to see it for a while if you distance yourself enough. But it will always follow you until you pass it on, and that is where the anxiety comes in. Jay, at one point, is told to avoid places with more than one exit. Having to constantly watch your back for potentially the rest of your life and adjusting accordingly is a terrifying thought. This is a great example of making a Horror film stick with the viewer well after they watch it.
The setting Mitchell creates is also a major star of the show here. It takes place in a contemporary setting, but it still feels other-worldly in a way with its set designs. The characters watch television on retro TV sets, always watching older black-and-white films. The cinematography by Mike Gioulakis also adds to this with various wide-angle shots, slow zoom-ins, and various tracking shots, and 360 camera movements. This all gives a nightmare feel to the world, thanks to the dread and tension that all these creative elements bring to the table.
It Follows is a brilliant example of the endless creativity that can come from the Horror genre. Anyone who watches this movie for the first time is in for a real treat.
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