Film Review: It Follows

Every Step You Take

Oh I do love a good horror movie. Last years' The Babadook took home first prize for being the best in it's respective category whilst so far this year, there has been an array of sub-par horror films such as The Woman in Black 2 and REC 4. Now we have It Follows, which has been dubbed, "smart, original, and above all terrifying," by the critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, starring Maika Monroe, last seen in the rather bonkers, The Guest. Although I am usually in accordance with what Rotten Tomatoes say about the quality of films, this is a rare occasion where I have to disagree, with It Follows not being overly smart, not really being original, and definitely not being terrifying. Sorry RT.

It Follows tells the tale of Monroe's character, Jay, who after having a bit of fun-and-games with boyfriend Hugh, starts to become haunted by a shape-shifting wraith-like entity which only she can see and can only be "passed on" by having more fun-and-games with other people. Sounds like a cool premise doesn't it? I mean you have the generic teen-sex-is-bad-and-should-be-punished vibe running throughout, which has been done countless times before, and a pretty funky 80's synth soundtrack, which has been done before, rounded off with those kind of eerie and spooky long shots of people walking down even longer pavements, or sidewalks if stateside, which has been done before, and more effectively in umm what's that film? Oh yeah, Halloween. So in terms of originality, I wholeheartedly disagree, with It Follows basically ripping the foundations of Halloween from it's feet and replacing Michael Myers with combination of a really tall guy, a naked woman, and a guy who gets really angry when near a swimming pool.

In terms of fear factor, I think I managed to properly jump once, and this was only when the film resorted to the ever-so-original quiet, quiet, quiet, LOUD process which horror films tend to go for these days when they think the audience might have become bored or even worse, fallen asleep, with the loudness of cinemas these days being more than capable of wakening anyone from the deepest of sleeps. In fact, they should have put Schumacher in one when he was in his coma. That would have woken him up. Hope you get better soon Mike. So, back to the movie, not one time during the film could I honestly say I felt under threat, whilst the long-drawn out scenes in between each entity attack becoming seemingly more boring than the last. So, in terms of  being, "above all, terrifying," I once again disagree.

Enough slating. In it's best moments, It Follows is a solid re-hash of better films of its' type, such as Halloween, with the acting being pretty much top-notch, particularly from leading lady, Maika Monroe, who gives a particularly good performance as the victim of the slowly walking entity that I will name "It". When it's dull, it's dull, and the originality and scares that the film promised were overly lacking, resulting in another film that has suffered from it's necessity to generate hype and declaration at being, "one of the most striking American horror films in years." Um, it's not.

Overall Score: 5/10