Teenager Jay (Maika Monroe) is thrilled when she and boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary) decide to ‘go all the way’. But soon after, Hugh explains to her that he has infected her with some invisible parasite, and before long Jay is visited by apparitions that stalk her every waking moment, visible only to her. And the only way out? To ‘pass it on’ to someone else.





It Follows gives the genre a much-needed shock to the system. Even before the film begins, the concept itself has introduced a variety of ideas ripe for exploitation; the teenage fear of ill-devised promiscuity and the unrelenting fear of seeing something no-one else can. Until something comes along that really works, you don’t fully realise just how bad the past year of horror cinema has been: an infection of found-footage schlock and demon possession have plagued us for far too long, andgives the genre a much-needed shock to the system.









It Follows emanates a creeping sense of paranoia that settles into your gut and refuses to go away. Rather than searching empty sections of the screen for an upcoming scare, the people inhabiting the frame are all suspect: does that school student, old lady or laughing child just happen to be walking in this direction or are they the next attacker? The unbearable paranoia builds and builds in the background as the foreground is populated by believable characters, people that you get to know and – more importantly – fear for before the tension is finally released in a thrilling climax that will leave your breath caught in your throat. Unlike the edge-of-your seat cattle-prod antics of jump-scare marathons,emanates a creeping sense of paranoia that settles into your gut and refuses to go away. Rather than searching empty sections of the screen for an upcoming scare, the people inhabiting the frame are all suspect: does that school student, old lady or laughing child just happen to be walking in this direction or are they the next attacker? The unbearable paranoia builds and builds in the background as the foreground is populated by believable characters, people that you get to know and – more importantly – fear for before the tension is finally released in a thrilling climax that will leave your breath caught in your throat.





Halloween, and the synth-heavy score calls to mind a Jeff Wayne concept album by way of John Carpenter. The wandering apparitions and deserted streets pay homage to Invasion of the Body-Snatchers whilst the scopophilic, salacious focus on young lovers is part Peeping Tom and part Under the Skin. Director David Robert Mitchell’s frame of reference is clear to see: the idyllic suburbs seems lifted right from the reels of, and the synth-heavy score calls to mind a Jeff Wayne concept album by way of John Carpenter. The wandering apparitions and deserted streets pay homage towhilst the scopophilic, salacious focus on young lovers is partand part





actually scared me. It Follows is a spine-tingling aura of paranoia wrapped in a tribute to the horror masters. David Robert Mitchell, we shall watch your career with great interest. Though a great deal will try to convince you otherwise, the film is not a revolutionary masterpiece, but I’m willing to forgive occasional self-indulgence for the simple but joyous reason that itis a spine-tingling aura of paranoia wrapped in a tribute to the horror masters. David Robert Mitchell, we shall watch your career with great interest.





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