STACK#127 May 2016

CINEMA

REVIEWS

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Have-sex-and-die was a staple of '80s teen slasher films and this theme is given a frightening new twist in writer-director David Robert Mitchell's terrific arthouse horror film. IT FOLLOWS RELEASED: Out Now DIRECTOR: David Robert Mitchell CAST: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi RATING: MA15+

F ollowing a one night stand, than an STI; her date has passed on a curse in the form of a malevolent shapeshifting entity which relentlessly shadows her with homicidal intent. In a neat riff on the body-snatching theme, 'it' can look like anyone – a family member, a friend, a dead person, a naked person – and the only way to get rid of it is to pass it on to your next sexual partner. There's a wealth of subtext here, particularly for fans of Cronenberg's early work, but It Follows more closely resembles an arthouse version of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street , sans gore and flashy visual effects. It also evokes John Carpenter's classic Halloween ; autumnal suburban streets are captured with wide angles and long tracking shots, and evil can be lurking anywhere within the widescreen frame. And the synth-like score is pure '80s/Carpenter. The emphasis here is on mood and atmosphere; the film conjures a palpable and sustained sense of dread, with the ordinary and everyday oozing malevolence – a device that fans of Ramsey Campbell's horror 19-year-old Jay (Maika Monroe) is left with something worse

fiction will immediately recognise. Moreover, a weirdly anachronistic setting – where black and white TVs and e-readers co-exist – in a Detroit landscape of derelict buildings and urban decay adds further to the inherently creepy vibe. What's also impressive, and refreshing, is that the protagonists are real teenagers with real hopes and fears about growing up, and not the gorgeous-looking, self-centred social media addicts who populate today's horror films. Director David Robert Mitchell has transformed the adolescent angst that propelled his moody 2010 film The Myth of the American Sleepover into a new kind of boogeyman. While Hollywood continues to churn out endless remakes and found- footage horror films, it's indie gems like It Follows that offer something new, exciting, and most importantly, scary. It's a crime that movies like this struggle to make it on to cinema screens, and if they do, they're granted a very limited release, while Paranormal Activity: Part Whatever can dominate the multiplexes for an extended run. See It Follows at your earliest opportunity. Scott Hocking

MAY 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

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