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It Follows (2014) - David Robert Mitchell



Dark plodding and scary. It Follows provides more questions than answers. Its no wonder why half of Hollywood loved this movie and half hated it. Quentin Tarantino has said how he would have improved the film. But for all the hate that it gets, I kind of liked it. It was just the type of terror that I love. 

There is an invisible entity that follows its host. The entity doesn't stop. It doesn't falter. It follows. It's is very slow but very smart. And the only way to get rid of it is to sleep with someone. This makes it a sexuallly transmitted demon of sorts. The problem being that the person that you pass it off too has to keep running. If they are caught or they die then it passes right back to you. It seems hopeless but Jay (Maika Monroe) has a plan to kill it. 

It Follows has its critics. While a lot of people find this movie to be pointless and stupid. I found it to be genius and terrifying. The soundtrack, provided by Disasterpiece, is masterful and makes the movie feel that much more like a forgotten John Carpenter picture. The acting leaves a lot to be desired but it's not distracting. Also, this movie is really beautiful and full of amazing shots. The cinematography from Mike Gioulakis is inspired by Gregory Crewdson. 

Just the idea of something that is following you to this degree is scary. Not cheesy or unpractical like Friday the 13th but more realistic in a way. It was more of a living nightmare. The entity exists in our world and cannot walk through walls or doors. It's not a ghost so it's bound by our physical limitations. I would love to see this world explained further. I would just really like to see where the entity comes from and what it is. 

This is one of the best films of 2014 and it might be one of the best films of the last ten years. It has an original storyline with simplistic features. It's scary and thought provoking. I was constantly trying to think of ways that I myself would out run the creature. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone looking for something different. It came highly recommended to myself through a film community on Reddit and I am very thankful. I cannot wait for the sequel. 

Director; David Robert Mitchell
Producer: Rebecca Green, Laura D. Smith, David Robert Mitchell and David Kaplan
Writer: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto and Jake Weary
Studio: Northern Lights Films and Animal Kingdom
Release Date: May 17, 2014
Country: United States
Did ya know: The theatre featured at the beginning of the film is the Redford Theatre, a historic Japanese style theatre with a fully functioning Wurlitzer organ, in the Old Redford neighborhood of Detroit, MI. The Evil Dead (1981) premiered there.






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