It Follows (2014)
Certified: 100 minutes
Directed by: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Bailey Spry, Debbie Williams, Ruby Harris, Leisa Pulido, Ele Bardha
KRS Releasing Ltd

Throughout the annals of celluloid history, sex and horror have been very much willing bed partners. For a character in a horror movie that enjoys sex, engages in a promiscuous act or has anything to do with sex, there is a 99 per cent chance that he or she will end up dead in a very gruesome manner.

In 2007 we had the film Teeth, a modern parable of a movie that advocated safe sex and, even more than that, delivered the message that abstinence is the way forward.

Now along comes It Follows, a sharply directed movie that was made on a $2 million budget and that will astound the socks out of its audience.

Maika Monroe plays the role of Jay Height, a youth who lives in Detroit with her teenage sister Kelly (Lili Sepe) and their mother. The two sisters spend a lot of time in their pool to the joy of the neighbours. Height is currently going out with Hugh (Jake Weary) and, at one point, she finally consents to sex and he incapacitates her with chloroform, a compound that is considered hazardous.

She wakes up tied to a chair in an old building. Hugh is there and he tells her that she has been infected with a curse that will follow her and will try to kill her, unless she gets rid of it.

She begins to have visions and soon starts to realise that life is not what it seems and that the after-effects of sex are not always the same or those written in book-lets about sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs).

It Follows may be taken superficially as another horror movie but it is also a very strong one that is heavily imbued with metaphors of how much sex and promiscuity can be a dangerous affair. Having said this, the element and amount of titillation in It Follows is kept at quite a minimum. The way the teens are inserted in the proceedings is very realistic and with the plot’s seriousness and good cast, It Follows turns out to be a very unusual and gripping affair.

Another bonus is the way the film treads and manipulates the atmosphere that is heavily laden throughout. David Robert Mitchell’s movie is supernatural without resorting to the usual box office friendly monsters. All this is backed by a performance from Monroe that keeps us on the edge of our seat.

It Follows makes sense and the way it slowly uncovers its hand makes sure one gets the feeling – whether one is a newbie or a veteran horror fan – that one is watching something truly special. The film follows and explores its own avenues with all the aplomb and intensity that is required to make sure that its audience is suitably afraid, horrified or, particularly in this case, simply cautious. It also capitalises on the American suburbs setting that takes on a decidedly sinister approach. The result is a rich mine of subtext and a delightful tangible element of the weird.