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026 MAY 2015 JB Hi-Fi
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Following a one night stand,
19-year-old Jay (Maika Monroe)
is left with something worse
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
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
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+