It Follows (2014)

My expectations are rarely anywhere but at their lowest when it comes to 'mainstream' American horror films (which should go without saying if you've read any of my past redundant horseshit 'reviews' on the subject...), but based on a few things I had heard, "It Follows" sounded like something that might be worth checking out. The trailer didn't make it look like anything particularly exceptional, but something about it seemed to show promise over much of the other supernatural/possession/PG-13 horror garbage that intermittently trickles into the lamentable cinema-plex these days. And - lo and behold - "It Follows" actually turned out to be an entertaining and reasonably "fresh" horror flick compared to the comprehensive stagnancy of the horror genre.

After some backseat sex on date night, a teenage girl learns from her boyfriend he has passed on to her a malevolent curse that will follow her until she passes it on - via sex - to the next poor bastard. "It" comes in the form of random people or people she knows and will apparently pursue her until it either gets a hold of her or she can unload the burden on someone else...

There's no denying that "It Follows" has it's flaws and is far from the most original concept, but I definitely appreciated how it didn't bombard the audience (i.e. me...) with the same tired genre conventions that 'modern' horror movies lazily rely upon. Aside from a few expected 'cheap scares', the film is much more up-front with it's tension building - holding on the 'action' much longer than supernatural-themed movies of late tend to do, with slamming doors, creeping shadows and other fleeting, tiresome cliches that only jolt the audience momentarily out of their social media-sedation while promptly alleviating them of said tension before it even gets started. "It Follows" takes a bit more of an inexorable approach to it's style of tensity - along the lines of "The Shining" (though coming nowhere close to it's excellence, of course...) which I found rather commendable. Also, attention is placed on musical scoring (heavily John Carpenter-inspired...) and cinematography - actually taking the time to capture details in the locale that gives the film's environment a sense of purpose and "character", which is another thing that I find doesn't stand out in enough recent horror films.

My gripes on "It Follows" lay more in certain details in the premise that seemed a bit unclear - such as a scene where one of the targets of "It" is attacked and some kind of strange, violent, sexually-charged 'process' (aka. MOTIVE) is taking place that isn't shown in full or explained. Also, do you have to cum to get "It" on your tail or is it just the penetration? Do blowjobs count? Aside from these "burning" questions, I thought there were just a few unnecessary and/or somewhat drawn-out scenes here and there, but nothing that bogs the movie down too much...

Like I said, it's not a perfect flick, overall, but for a theatrical horror joint I dug it quite a bit. It's got much more "style" than any of the supernatural/demonic possession retreads that have reduced the genre to a dubious, mundane, infantile farce in past years. There's a touch of gore and nudity and a decent enough premise involving basically invisible zombie STDs and a detectable affection for the genre. Check it out.