It Follows
DIRECTED & WRITTEN BY: David Robert Mitchell, STARRING: Maika Monroe, Daniel Zovatto, Lili Sepe, Keir Gilchrist & Olivia Luccardi., GENRE: Horror/Suspense/Mystery, RUN TIME: 100 minutes, RELEASE YEAR: 2015
SYNOPSIS: For nineteen-year-old Jay (Monroe), Autumn should be about school, boys and week-ends out at the lake. But after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, she finds herself plagued by strange visions and the inescapable sense that someone, something, is following her. Faced with this burden, Jay and her friends must find a way to escape the horrors, that seem to be only a few steps behind ~ IMDb.
It Follows has received a whole host of widespread critical acclaim since it's initial release, with praise flooding in for it's suspense, inspiring score and great acting from the young cast. Rotten Tomatoes criticism has earned it a whopping 96% fresh, whilst review website Metacritic gives it an overall score of 83. Bloody Disgusting called It Follows a 'modern genre masterpiece' and 'one of the most suspenseful and scary film in recent memory', whilst Empire Online calls it a 'first-rate horror movie'. The praise for It Follows just seems continuous and there are already whispers of a sequel circulating, which would come as no surprise to me in the least as Hollywood seems to have an obsession with turning a single film into a long-winded, and eventually disappointing, franchise. Fans and critics alike simply love It Follows. That being said, I really struggle to understand why.
Let's start with the basics. It Follows could easily be labelled as I guess it is intended; a predominantly suspenseful horror, the likes of which we have seen recently in the far superior The Babadook, but what this actually is, is just a 100-minute advertisement preaching the dangers of promiscuity and unprotected sex. They could play this film in high-schools as a warning video, but it's doubtful that any of the students would stay awake long enough to see it through to the end, not that they would miss anything interesting. Although, you really only need to watch the first 20 minutes to get the gist of the entire film.
I like the idea of something menacing slowly following you; something that you can't get rid of and can only keep running from to bide yourself some time. It's a creepy notion and to be fair, It Follows does it well and I really did like that to begin with. However, unless you are watching this film on your own in the pitch black and there is literally creepy crap going on in your home as you watch it, then that creeping feeling won't last for very long. It's impact soon falls flat as the varied personifications of sexual diseases follow our main character about like an obsessed fan stalking a film star. It just doesn't stay affective throughout the entirety of the film. The only suspension this film offers is wondering when it is going to end, but a quick Google of the run time soon puts an end to that (100 minutes - you're welcome) and then you're left with nothing to keep you gripped.
Although the storytelling is original, the supporting characters of the film are not. They are all a bit of a cliché to be honest and...well...extremely boring. There doesn't appear to have been any development gone into them whatsoever. It's like they took several standard characters from a ton of other horror films and just dumped them together. There's just nothing appealing about them to speak of and already I can barely remember any of their names without internet searching; you've got the sister Kelly, the brash friend Yara, the nice guy Paul, (SLIGHT SPOILERS IN FOLLOWING SENTENCE) who goes through the whole film annoyingly moping around and consistently trying quite pathetically to get his leg over with his 'friend' Jay (END OF SPOILERS). Lastly you have Greg, the bad boy/good guy? I don't know, I really didn't care by this point. The only saving grace of It Follows is the wonderful Maika Monroe. Although I have seen her in two recent films now that unexpectedly disappointed, she is a consistently strong actress and holds her character's appeal well.
Overall, It Follows is a film that ultimately falls flat and fails to deliver any scares, suspense and engaging storyline. The score is just fine, it suits the morose and dull tone of the film well, but the whole thing is just completely void of sparks of brilliance, and I struggled from start to finish (which is also poor) to understand what all this positive acclaim is based on. If you want suspenseful horror then I suggest you stick with The Babadook or try to find something else. Although considering it's universal praise, there are obviously plenty of people out there that completely disagree with me, as you may well too. By all means, don't take my word for it. Give it a try. You may well love it.