It Follows

It Follows

Directed by David John Mitchell

100 minutes

It Follows (David Robert Mitchell) is a new horror film that’s found much attention in its explicit and terrifying context. Directed and written by David John Mitchell, the premise comes from a recurring nightmare he had, whereby someone is following him. In much the same way the main character Jay (Maika Munroe), and somewhat ‘final girl’ becomes trapped inside her own nightmare. This is when Jay sleeps with boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary) who passes on a sort of STD. Jay becomes plagued by strange visions and like Mitchell’s dream someone follows her.  The carrier can only see the follower(s) and break the curse by sleeping with the next person, exactly what Hugh had done. This proves difficult and challenging since the followers evoke personal trauma to the beholder. The social commentary is what makes this a disturbing experience. The bodily associations such as STD’s that could occur from a ‘one night stand’ or the darker monstrosities like rape and molestation are all very real. This is fused with tragedy, which makes you have empathy and connect to these cases. Jay’s followers are either sinister or victims themselves. Physiological scenarios like mental illness or the battered wife syndrome are cases we understand and handled with thought and respect. Besides, it has been awhile since these themes have been tackled in the horror genre in such a delicate way.

As it turns out though, I found myself enjoying the ambience, more.  It Follows is a minimal, yet pretty grim film but violence and past trauma are only implied. Mitchell, much to my delight distances himself from the “splat pack” (a term associated to directors such as James Wan), but recreates his own version of John Carpenters, Halloween (1978). In the lead-up and night of Halloween, a follower prowls a neighborhood. The follower (Mike Myers) is not a disease, but someone sick. A monster Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) sees and not till the very end others see him, too. In much the same way, Laurie is a final girl, needing to overcome the (masculine) nightmare.

The use of wide shots, voyeurism, and hand held camera not to forget the stripped back and effective score makes this a very haunting and realistic experience. What It Follows manages to do differently, is take out the slasher madman element and present taboos. Even though, Myers does present a form of societal monster, the film is very traditional to the slasher genre and doesn’t budge in that regard. In much the same way, Jay as a final girl is quite different to Jamie through appearance and being sexually active. This is a great juxtaposition, since traditionally, final girl’s don’t have sex. Jay is a beautiful concoction of a victim and an aggressor, with much vulnerability and trauma but at the same time strength and power to overcome her nightmare.

It Follows is a subliminal film that does feels like being, perhaps inside Mitchell’s recurring nightmare. It is very floaty and ambiguous and has the sort of sexual energy of Twin Peaks (Mark Frost, David Lynch 1990). This is not flawless but pretty close to the mark. It does feel like, It follows over stays its welcome, again the more I think about it, the more it works as an anti- narrative that doesn’t give you the answers. Perhaps, because of its dream like narrative there are some awkward moments that don’t seem to work or make sense. However, if you stay with the film then this incoherence and eclipses, kinda work. Meaning, this is a film that can be reevaluated in a different context, or soak up its fragmented truths.