It Follows

Yeah, I’d be scared shitless too if some 6 foot guy with no eyes was right behind my friend. It Follows is notorious in my family; due to my older brother Owen having to have a nightlight on after watching the film at the cinema. So when I heard this when I was 8 years old, you best believe I stood away from that film at all costs. Until now, I saw it on Netflix, it’s a nice 9pm, I’m not that tired; why not give it a go. What I got in return was: a terrifyingly creative, well executed and atmospheric horror. I’m not massively into horror, specifically ghost things? Paranormal, but when it’s psychological horror, I’m sold. So knowing this going into the film had my expectations raised already. Honestly I really like this. I think for me it’s arguably a top 10 horror film due to how creepy it is. The way it uses the atmosphere to portray this sense of surrealism, and almost as if you’re alone.  I think what makes this scary isn’t necessarily jump scares; because they did have a couple solid ones to get the blood pumping. But it was the entity; let me explain: the idea of having sex, for then this person who follows you, but it changes to someone you know, don’t know, they’re naked, fully clothed, they’re peeing, not peeing, disformed etc. Sounds pretty creepy, but it gets worse; the part that makes it so terrifying is that it follows you..EVERYWHERE. You are not safe in any location, because it will be 10 yards away, a block, a mile, wherever it will always be following you. Now it sounds more scary, would you expect it to be running? No, what the writer did was smart, they made them just follow you in a walking stance. Not a light jog, run, sprint, just walking. Now you may be thinking, ‘Fin..how is that scary?’. Think about the day to day in 2925, think about how many people are just walking, to you, not to you, in general. Now take that and make you paranoid of everything, because you don’t know what that thing is, and what makes it worse is YOU, yes only YOU can see it. It makes for a hellish scenario that if I was in I’d want to just die. Maika Monroe really surprised me in this; her performance was actually unbelievable at times. While moments she was emotionless like usual, she had moments of pure fear and anxiety, and it was stressful, tense, and emotional. Her acting assisted the directing so well to a point where you felt you were alone with her on this. I also feel like if you came out of theatres after seeing this and some guy/girl was following you saying nothing, you’d be scared shitless. In all seriousness though, it adds a lot of tension throughout the film, the idea of an everyday thing everyone does. Turned against you for having intercourse, due to a curse; it sounds pretty weird. But it works, and it’s disturbing, suspenseful, and a work of art. Another thing is I heard they were doing a sequel called They Follow; whenever that comes out I’d love to check it out. I also liked how indie this film felt. Due to the smaller company’s involvement in the opening credits; it felt like a group of friends had an idea and just thought let’s try it. I really like it; which another thing I really like is the camera angles, they’re done in this way that they never feel safe. Every shot feels uncomfortable, like you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for something; anything, to just pop out at you. They also did great cinematography in general, but my favourite bits were how isolated it felt, moments of uncertainty, and most of all the far away shots that made such an undeniably creepy feeling. For me; It Follows is an incredibly unique film, that I would love to have seen in the cinema. So if it gets re-released for whatever reason, I’m gonna book my tickets. I think this film is such a great team effort, with the writing, directing, and acting. The three key parts this film surpassed my expectations with. Acting due to Maika Monroe putting on her best performance I’ve seen her done, chilling and emotional. Writing for an insanely talented, but sick mind to come up with this idea; which ended up being not only a work of art but heavily disturbing, and terrifying. Last but not least directing, for those gorgeous shots that really show was horror in this film is truly like: the pure ambience in the background, the director did such a well job at making the film feel so surreal, and atmospheric. A work of art for me and probably 2nd favourite horror film🙏.