It Follows

                                          "It doesn't think. It doesn't feel. It doesn't give up."

The new horror film It Follows has recently been receiving a lot of attention from both critics and viewers since release. Argued to be one of the scariest films released in years, this movie tells the story of a teenage girl that is chased by an unexplicable force after she has an abnormal sexual encounter after a date. Directed and written by David Robert Mitchell, this film has been said to be extremely original in both its story as well as its lingering psychological effects on the audience.

Maika Monroe plays the main character Jay, our main character that contracts the supernatural being after her sexual encounter with a boy named Hugh, played by Jake Weary. The premise of this film is that there will forever be a monster slowly moving closer and closer to Jay, solely because she had sex with Hugh. The monster can take any form that will help it to get close to her: a friend, a family member, or the form of a fear of hers. It can only walk, but it always knows her exact location. During the course of the film we follow Jay as she and her friends attempt to escape the monster as well as figure out the origin of the disease.

Although I am usually someone who greatly dislikes watching horror films, I actually loved It Follows. I find horror films that rely mainly upon jump scares, quick cuts, and sporadic camera movement to be scary are usually cliché and predictable. While Mitchell did use some of these tactics, the terror in this film comes from the acting, the well developed plot, and the terrifying premise. This film has clear symbolism of how sexually transmitted diseases act as a burden, forever following and shaping your actions. The horror of this film comes from this sense of always being followed, or having to look over your shoulder and watch every step you take. Instilling a feeling of paranoia in the viewer gives It Follows a different horror factor than most other films. I highly recommend that everyone take time to see it in theaters to achieve its full affect. 8/10