I think it’s mutually agreed that the 2010s was a huge heyday for the horror genre. One could look at James Wan’s Conjuring films as the decade’s earlier hits and cementing his name in horror’s best directors. As well as the rise of the studio A24 and their unique spin on horror. They’re unconventional by having their horror not be the standard, but one where it’s a league of their own. You also have new directors showing their spin of horror such as Mike Flanagan and Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of Stephen King works. As much as I want to talk about 2017’s It, 2014’s It Follows is considered one of the best of the decade.
1. Sexually Transmitted Demon
Compared to the studio horror films that came out near the middle of the 2010s, this one is unique since it’s an independent movie with just around a million-dollar budget. Given the relatively small budget, you can convey the creepiness of what’s going on by using a minimalist approach. Just the opening in the film in suburban Detroit gives the film it’s own style and flare. It’s one of those movies where we see the threat, albeit the threat is invisible to everyone except the victim.
We follow Jay as she’s taken on a date with a guy named Hugh. After making out, Hugh knocks her out and reveals that he’s passed to her a curse. He describes the thing as a slow and unstoppable force that can’t be stopped. As bonkers of a storyline sounds and even typing it is just a feat since it’s a concept that is so out there, it’s at least original in some regards. One could say that this is sort of like a slasher film since it has a body count and we see the aftermath of the victims.
Now, typically a slasher involves a killer in a mask or a disfigured guy that’s running around chopping up teens. It exploded in the 80s due to how relatively cheap and easy they are to film. For how I interpret the slasher films, is that they are sort of like lessons where teenagers are punished for doing bad deeds. Such as doing stuff that is morally wrong, but their wild mind beats out any logic. It’s like a fable where there’s a comeuppance but the horror genre has spiced it up with the tropes that have made it endearing.
Of course, if you see the movie with an introspective mindset, it could be interpreted as a metaphor for STDs or another danger for sex. Following what I established before, this thing mostly punishes for the deed that the teens did. Albeit wittingly or unwittingly, it’s unfortunate how the victims go through the ringer of just avoiding the threat of inevitably being on the receiving end. I’ll elaborate on the thing itself since it’s probably the most interesting threat that any horror film has put out.
With this film, the way it’s shot and presented is very downtrodden where there’s no hope being communicated at all. It probably doesn’t do any favors that it takes place in Detroit since we see some establishing shots of a rundown neighborhood and how it looks dilapidated. It matches the mood with the movie since Jay is trying to escape from the seemingly invisible threat that she’s only confined within her area.
She has help from her friends and sister. I love how the characters initially don’t believe her but soon realize that Jay is in danger. They all have something to do instead of just being lambs to the slaughter. All of them contribute and manage to stand guard to protect Jay from the threat. One of them, Paul has feelings and gets jealous when the neighbor Greg tries to take away the demon from her. If there’s one thing that I like is that the camera does the extra job of visually communicating with us with what the character is thinking.
In one way, the camera offers us a clue as to how the threat is presented. Mind you, it has no name. We don’t even know the origins of it, just the fact that it exists to kill the person that made out with the last victim. With the minimum information that we have, it’s scary to think that a seemingly mythic being has a lineage of victim to pick off. Just how it can morph into other people that’s part of the victim’s past can be unsettling since it can either appear in white or nude.
I think the one scene that basically makes it terrifying is when the creature goes after Jay’s neighbor. She peers over her window and sees her “neighbor”, until it breaks the window and finds the new victim. Since we don’t see the kill up close, and I’m kind of grateful that it didn’t go in the explicit route. Like the way the thing kills Greg is already messed up considering that it breaks the joints and rapes him to death. With how quick it is, I’m glad that it’s more than enough to say that this thing is deadly, without the explicit shots of how Greg dies.
Aside from the creature being unstoppable, I love how the film is practically paranoid. We really do empathize with Jay since she's constantly on the lookout of where the thing will come from. More so that the way the camera is set up as well visually creates the paranoia feel. Throughout the film, the camera will pan around and follow the character. Even slowly zooming in on the young woman since we can only assume that the thing is near or getting close. I just love how it didn't need a big special effect to show where the thing is, but just imply and to give us a scare as to where it is.
If there’s one last thing to comment on is that the film is of course a love letter to John Carpenter. I’ve looked at two of his most memorable films way back four years ago. With how the film is presented with it’s look in suburbia, it has some homages to 1978's Halloween. Right down to the threat’s slow walk and the soundtrack having a synth feel to it. And of course with Carpenter’s remake of The Thing since the creature morphs into anyone and how it can be anywhere. I view this film as a tribute to 80s horror and an homage to Carpenter.
2. Overall
It Follows is one of the most creative horror films to date and one of the best horror films of the decade.
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