Finally, after having been postponed endlessly, the horror masterpiece It Follows, written and directed by David Gordon Michell, has been released locally. It was screened at Berlin and the Critics’ Week in Cannes to rave reviews, many Argentines saw it at last year’s Mar del Plata Film Festival, where all three screenings were sold out. The same thing happened at this year’s BAFICI. And it makes sense: It Follows is the best horror film in over a decade. It is, in fact, as many claim, the cinematic proof that there’s still hope within a genre that surely knew better times.
To describe It Follows, it’s best to first say what it is not about. It’s not about gushes of blood, torn flesh, graphic violence or gore of any kind. Forget all that. However, there’s something equally frightening lurking around the corner and ready to sneak up on you any minute. It’s a film that’s disturbing rather than horrifying, creepy rather than shocking. Suspense prevails although surprise is to be found too. In short: there’s little to be seen, but much to be felt.
The initial premise is quite simple: girl meets guy, they date for a short time and then have sex. She falls asleep, only to wake up later and find herself tied up to a wheelchair. And the guy explains he’s passed on to her an entity through sex. That is, an entity which will follow her everywhere until it kills her — for no reason. The only way to stop is to pass it to somebody else, like he’s done with her. And even that may not always work. And if it catches you and kills you, then it will go back to the person who passed it to you.
It Follows is set in Detroit, first in the once idyllic suburbia which is still somewhat economically prosperous yet emotionally moribund, and then in the lower class, crumbling downtown areas of the city which long ago were thriving with business. Crossing the border that divides these two zones may prove to be dangerous — the guy who passed the entity to Jay (Maika Monroe), the film’s protagonist, comes from an impoverished area, a place he was ashamed of. And just like he’s ashamed, Jay is disappointed with her teenage years and perhaps melancholic about her future too. What has gone wrong in the American Dream to result in such an infection?
Like in many recent horror films such as Contracted (Eric England, 2013), venereal-disease allegory provides much of the film’s subtext. As I watched the paranoia and desperation Jay endures throughout the entire movie, I couldn’t stop thinking of the way things were during the first stages of the AIDS epidemic. Who infected you? Who might infect you? Who might you infect? Worst of all: is there a way not to die? Talk about dreams of a happy and healthy sexuality shattered to pieces.
In the same way, the sort of nurturing sentimental liaison Jay longs for seems to be hard to find — or perhaps she’s looking for a connection with the wrong guy and so fails to let the right one in. It Follows is also an unusual love story between two people who have to go through too much until they acknowledge they are right for one another. A film that excels at achieving a disturbing mix of realism and supernatural so it plays both as a drama and a horror movie. And while the run-down sectors of Detroit suggest the drama takes place today, the suburbia is anchored in an indefinite time with diverse icons from the 1950’s to the 1980’s — retro is alive and well here.
And from the horror cinema masters — John Carpenter heading the list — David Gordon Mitchell suitably takes more than a few cues and gives new meaning to them in a different context. Take the faultless use of the widescreen to find the follower, the menacing electronic sound design that conveys unspeakable dread, the smooth dolly shots and long takes that capture the characters’ movements in real time, but also the brisk, precise editing that makes a great use of off-screen space as well. Because that’s what stunning cinematography is all about — forgetting unnecessary visual gimmicks or flashy tricks.
The streets with neat houses and rows of trees that are also the scenario of Wes Craven’s superb Nightmare On Elm Street (1981) and other Carpenter films are to be found here once again — only this time there’s an overall ambiance of agonizing splendour. The entity that follows you can take any possible shape, including that of a loved one so that you won’t be even recognize it at first sight — enter The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
One more thing: those who expect an explanation about why the entity exists, what it is and why it attacks these teens in suburbia, will be disappointed. But those fond of unexplained horror, whose nature is hinted at, and who care more for subtext and symbolic readings, will be rewarded and mesmerized by the film’s artistry. It follows is the kind of horror film that asks you to go with the flow and imagine yourself as another victim of whatever it is that follows you at all times. You can run, but you can’t hide.
Production notes:
It Follows (US, 2014) Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell. With Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe. Cinematography: Michael Gioulakis. Editing: Julio C. Perez IV. Running time: 107 minutes.
