It Follows
I have to begin by stating that I’m not a Horror Movie fan. I like a good movie, and if there happen to be “horror elements”, that’s fine by me.
To me, scary movies are all about sound design and “It Follows” gets that aspect totally right. It does a fantastic job of setting up the creepy mood of the story. This is a throwback to early days of suspenseful horror instead of today’s torture porn. It plays fast and loose with the time setting in that there’s digital books, but no cell phones. (Really? What year is this?) It also manages to continue the time honored tradition of “if you’re a teenager in a horror movie, and you have sex, something bad will happen to you”.
Now, does the movie have creepy and scary scenes? Yes, although not as much as I thought it would. The reason for my low rating is because it wasn’t really much of a “movie” and it broke a couple cinema sins that just irked me. One of them almost couldn’t be helped because most horror films follow the same structure (I can’t talk about it without giving away something) and the other is that I felt it broke it’s own rules… twice. I understand it’s a fantasy, but still, if it doesn’t make sense, then it knocks me right out of the story. That being said, this film maybe working on a level that I don’t really understand and is probably a horror cinematic classic.
So if you want to see something very moody and atmospheric with a couple of jumps, this might be for you. If you want a good story, and interesting characters to care about, move along.
