Walkaway, Walkaway. . . “It” Will Follow

It Follows is a surprisingly creative new horror picture that avoids using gore and builds its atmosphere the old-fashioned way, taking the typical sex-crazed teen motif and flipping it upside down to create a novel and interesting picture.

The basic premise is simple: there is some sort of haunting presence that is passed on, STD style, after teenagers have intercourse. It Follows is a good working title, as it provides us with a vague description of the plot while also allowing for viewers to call the supernatural figure “It”. Yet, this film could also easily have been called Chivalry Be Damned, Pass the Buck, STD: Spectral Transmitted Disease, Here Cums the Boo or a clever re-working of the TLC show Sex Sent Me to the ER . . .or Morgue. Alas, I must focus. . . Ghostbusters re-worked: Ghost? Bust-a-nut-in-hers. Okay, that’s enough!

Our lead is Jay (Maika Monroe), a pretty, yet sulky teen who chooses the wrong guy to date. She soon gives in to the typical teen urges that we have witnessed time and time again, though we quickly learn that her supposedly ordinary beau is simply ‘passing the buck’ so to speak, so that the creature that is haunting him passes on to its next victim. This leaves our protagonist with a rather difficult moral quandary, as the ever-changing spirit (which can transform itself to look like anything from a freakishly tall male or elderly old woman, to friends or family) will not waiver until she is dead. To set out the rules – if the person being ghost-stalked dies, the spook then returns to the previous lady or gentleman, though Jay can pass the ‘deadliest virus’ on to the next person she services. This makes for what can only be described as the worst congo line ever.

Writer/director David Robert Mitchell does a solid job building the suspenseful scares by way of ghostly stalking rather than gory slasher violence. It is also a clever touch to make the villainous ghoul human – Mitchell never loses us by creating a frustratingly stupid creature that looks ridiculously CGI’d. There is something utterly (and obviously) real about being stalked by a human being. And since the monster can shift at will, it only adds to the disorienting number of possible threats.

Luckily, our lead is surrounded by helpful and caring friends, who, despite being blind to the menace, seem to genuinely believe her rather unorthodox and scary claims. With the help of her childhood buddies, her sister, and the clearly smitten Paul (Keir Gilchrist), they try to conjure up each and every idea that may work at besting the beast.

Though there are still some silly horror movie actions committed by the teens in this flick (why are you wandering off on your own or crawling towards the swimming pool to take a look to see if the creature is still there?), the movie throws an original enough story (that feels like a slight ode to A Nightmare on Elm Street) at us and the right kinds of scares to truly give us goose bumps.

Mitchell must also be commended for the skilful way that he wields the camera. From tracking shots and 360 degree pans of the land, to everything in between, the director’s style forces us to be ever vigilant and watchful, while also making us feel as though we are being stalked along with our lead. It is a credit to his skills that I spent as much time as I did watching or glancing for possible threats coming in the distant exteriors rather than focussing on the teens and their right in your face discussions.

Composer Disasterpeace (real name Rich Vreeland), takes his techno roots and pulls from traditional experts like Bernard Herrmann (with the score feeling Psycho-esque at certain points) and Angelo Badalamenti (giving portions of his score a melancholic romantic feel like Twin Peaks) to make an intense score that only adds to the menacing hauntings.

As you can probably imagine with a premise such as this, there can really be no true ending (which may eventually lead to what could only be dubbed – It Still Follows), thus leaving us with a rather open-ended, yet still quite satisfying closing. Unlike most horror flicks today, It Follows is able to play on our fears while never resorting to slasher violence to succeed in scaring us – all while creating a fresh concept from the most unoriginal of horror topics. So please don’t abstain from watching this clever little horror movie – its well worth the risk (feel free to add your own cheeky comment here – e.g. but make sure to bring protection).