1. February Release
It Follows
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist
Running time: 107 mins
Released nationwide on Feb 27th
It’s an image seared onto the mind of any horror
fan: the unstoppable killer striding after the hero-
ine. With It Follows, David Robert Mitchell takes
that image and uses it as a building block for some-
thing less showy and more atmospheric.
The film focuses on Jay (Maika Monroe, follow-
ing her excellent performance in Adam Wingard’s
The Guest), a seventeen year old who splits her
time between her hipster circle of friends and her
new beau Hugh. After a night of passion she dis-
covers that Hugh has passed on a curse of sorts
which means Jay will be
followed by ‘It’, a crea-
ture that can take the
form of anyone it choos-
es and will never stop
walking until it has killed
its victim.
Due to how the creature passes from one vic-
tim to another there appears to be a surprisingly
‘sex positive’ viewpoint during the opening third,
something rare in horror, but this quickly disinte-
grates as it’s treated more and more like an incred-
ibly vicious STD and sex becomes just another way
the protagonists risk becoming victims. The crea-
ture is surprisingly effective, making you scan the
background of every scene and suspect anyone
who happens to be walking with any purpose.
Another great touch is the fact that it can only be
seen by those who are being followed, which casts
an element of doubt around the leads.
There are some incredibly tense scenes, most
notably the first time ‘It’ attempts to attack Jay
in her home. The sudden crash of a brick flying
through the kitchen window, mixed with the in-
creasingly disturbing guises that the creature takes
on and the Carpenter-esque synth score by Disas-
terpeace, build an overwhelming sense of dread.
Yet as we head closer to the inevitable confron-
tation between Jay and ‘It’, Mitchell’s story begins
to lose its footing. The fact that only Jay can see
the killer leads to some ridiculous scenes where
her friends smash various
objects over thin air and
the one and only time we
see how it kills is more
likely to invoke guffaws
rather than screams.
Still, there is plenty to
enjoy here. Mitchell’s direction on his sophomore
effort is impressive, and his characterisation puts
most horrors to shame. Not only is Jay a believable
character, those who surround her are wonderful
to watch, notably Yara and Paul (Olivia Luccardi
and Keir Gilchrist) who get the biggest laughs and
become more than just monster fodder.
It Follows isn’t a revelation. It lacks an overbear-
ing sense of dread and isn’t chock full of jump
scares like some may expect, but it’s an interest-
ing, and most importantly entertaining, entry in
the horror cannon.
Matthew Tilt
‘Mitchell’s direction on his sophomore
effort is impressive, and his characteri-
sation puts most horrors to shame’