Every once in a while, a horror movie comes along that crawls under your skin and buries itself so deep you can’t seem to get rid of it. “It Follows” has achieved that with me, and it’s the reason that I’m sitting in my room with the covers pulled over my head and the door locked on a sunny spring day.
In “It Follows,” we follow Jay, played by the spectacular Maika Monroe, who is a seemingly stereotypical teenage girl in the Detroit area. After a date and a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, it turns out that she now has a STD: a Sexually Transmitted Demon (or monster or curse or really any creepy supernatural being, but for the sake of the acronym, it’s a demon). She is now faced with a choice: Does she simply run away from it or does she attempt to pass it on to someone else?
I fully recognize that this premise sounds a little dumb and could be perceived as utterly ridiculous, but it makes for an interesting cautionary tale about flippant teen sex. It is masterfully directed to show how the gradual loss of innocence pulls the characters into progressively darker psychological states, emphasizing the negative effects that casual sex has.
The performances in this movie are great, especially considering that this is a horror film. Given that the genre is generally full of over-the-top and stupid characters, it is refreshing that the friends in “It Follows” feel like real people who make (for the most part) rational decisions given their situation. Maika Monroe is particularly great, and after “It Follows” and her performance in “The Guest,” I’m excited to see where her career goes from here.
This is the first David Robert Mitchell film that I’ve seen, but I want to watch everything he makes from now on. Not a single shot is wasted, and every single one is masterfully framed to make the movie feel simultaneously claustrophobic, artistic and, above all, creepy. A few 360-degree pans are the highlight of the cinematography.
So, is it scary?
**Yes.** I refuse to get close to anyone that I pass on the street today. I flinch every time I hear a knock on the door. I can’t sit still, and I only feel safe under my covers. “It Follows” reduced me to a 5-year-old.
I know my way around horror movies at this point. Sure, the first “Paranormal Activity” got to me the first time I saw it. “Insidious” wasn’t terribly scary. “Sinister” had its moments that stuck with me. I don’t say this lightly, but I’m fairly certain that “It Follows” is the scariest movie that I have ever seen.
It doesn’t try to gross you out or bring in any sort of shock factor outside of some graphic nudity (none in a sexual context), but rather, it just manages to be incredibly _unnerving_, particularly in the first half. Since the monster can take the shape of anyone, it could be literally any person that enters the frame, and some are more obvious than others. Sometimes it’s a naked lady or a giant man, but other times it’s just a student, a little boy or even a family member. “It Follows” never lets you feel that you’re safe, and even if nothing is on the screen, you feel this malicious presence in immediate proximity.
Sure, there are a few logical inconsistencies, but when you’re viewing a movie about an entity that you know profoundly little about, these are forgivable.
Overall, “It Follows” is not only one of the best horror movies that I’ve ever seen but also one of the scariest. The cinematography and performances make what could have been a silly movie an incredibly important one for horror fans. Its relevance for today’s culture of one night stands and casual sex cannot be understated, and the ambiguity of the ending was perfect. If I wasn’t fully convinced to wait until marriage before I saw this sure-to-be cult hit, I most definitely am now.
**Pass the Popcorn if:** You’re okay with not getting much sleep that night. You have even the slightest interest in horror movies. You can (the release has been finicky; I saw it in Texas). You’re trying to curb a lust problem.
**Pass it Up if:** You’re under 17. You have a test the morning after. You have to stay in a room alone. You don’t like looking at Maika Monroe (which is ridiculous).