It Follows

Halloween for the XXI century. Unlike Carpenter’s masterpiece, Mitchell doesn’t bring anything particularly new or refreshing to the table, the power and effect of It Follows comes primarily from the way it returns to the prudent and old-fashioned representatives of the genre – there’s no need to create a cool killer and attack the viewer with exhibitions of style, it’s enough to highlight the most natural human needs, making you nervous with the sensation that your space will be breached by an indomitable, mysterious intruder. A very well cast and very beautiful Maika Monroe, a great retro music score and lots of creative awareness, all producing an attractive film space without any concrete period definitions (the cars speak of the 80s while the clothes and the design of the houses are almost identical to the present), without deviating formally from the “slasher” plane towards broader intellectual lines, which the premise smartly attacks. I would have liked a tighter ending, but it does keep its coherence and ambiguity. 85% and the fifth star is because no other horror movie from the entire decade deserves it more. (21/03/2020)

Two decades of my favorite genre on one plate. Intense music and street Steadicams of the early Carpenter, sometimes escalating into giallo-like psychedelics, working with the mystery of a hidden horror like a modern version of The Ring, while preserving the narrative logic and believable behavior of the characters. Moreover, the horror is spread by sex between attractive teenagers led by a pretty, delicate blonde, and is not a form of pleasure, but an act of guilty suffering. In addition, we get to enjoy the dark setting of the ghost-town parts of Detroit. It Follows is a delicacy for genre connoisseurs that could have been the best horror-movie event of the decade had the brilliant blend of historical directions been crowned by a visionary outlining of a new path. ****1/2 (20/04/2015)

Brilliant minimalism. How sumptuous a genre horror film can look when it sets two simple rules that it sticks to dutifully from start to finish! David Robert Mitchell has won my great fondness, mainly because he has managed to make one hell of a genre entry for two million using a specific retro-analog atmosphere and a homogenous script. And that the soundtrack is very reminiscent of Carpenter's classics or Argento's giallo pieces is probably no coincidence. (06/03/2020)

I wasn't that impressed with It Follows, but I still think it's at least an average horror film. I think it would have been better if it had been shortened a bit because not much happens in the hundred minutes that it couldn't have been cut by twenty minutes. Moreover, I think that in such a case the atmosphere could be even more oppressive. (22/07/2016)

The theme of the film is imaginative and original (yet simple). I like how the director decided not to follow the path of bloody butchery or annoying jump scares and instead shot a horror film in the traditional sense, which is scary due to its atmosphere and shots of a slowly approaching character. The film could have been even scarier and better if it had been at least a little intelligent! The characters in the film act like idiots and their attempts to kill the enemy are ridiculous (what did they want to achieve in that pool scene?). I wonder what would happen if they went to another continent? The premise of the film is excellent and extremely scary, but it does not guarantee exceptionally high-quality horror. (08/07/2014)