Given that this is the first film I've reviewed in the best part of 2 months, there was definitely something about It Follows that compelled me to log back into my much-neglected blog. The plot is as follows: there is a curse which afflicts an individual, the curse is passed on when that person sleeps with someone else. The curse is that an entity visible only to those who either have or have had the curse will slowly and relentlessly pursue you. The entity can take on any human form, and will simply walk slowly in your direction until is catches you and dismembers you. Then it will go after the next last person who had the curse. Simple eh?
The film opens with a credit sequence that's straight out of the 1970s / 80s horror playbook, with suitably electronic score and graphics announcing the titles. A foreboding tone is set very early on, and soon with the rules of the curse established we are in for an unsettling story layered with unsubtle towards of teenage fear of sex and AIDS. For about 45 minutes it is great, but soon it becomes clear that there are only so many ways to film a sequence where the teenagers sit around worrying before IT starts coming towards them. Eventually they decide that it must be possible to simply put a sheet over it and shoot it in the head, which is a bit of a let-down in terms of special effects and the supernatural quality of the plot.
Everything ends suitably ambiguously, but in order to get there we have to go through an extended sequence in a swimming pool that somehow manages to lose the tension that's been built up over the opening 2 acts of the movie. It Follows is a very creditable horror film that I would heartily recommend, but I don't think it's quite yet polished article. Congratulations to the makers of this film though, for successfully managing to capture the vibe of old school horror.
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