In a way, the It of It Follows ends up being the scariest monster in horror film history, because from a certain point of view, it's real, and one day, it really will get you.Īpart from the literal monster that starts chasing her, what makes Jay's date with Hugh so horrifying isn't the sex, it's the abuse. It's quiet and unassuming, out there somewhere in the world, slowly walking towards you. And death isn't a giant horrifying monster that's running at you and screaming at the top of its lungs. It's scary because, no matter what you do, eventually, it will catch you. Death isn't scary because it will catch you today or tomorrow. If the entity from It Follows starts chasing you, it's probably not going to catch you today. You can't kill it, you can't reason with it, and you can run for a little while, but you can't run from it forever. Or to think of it another way, when it catches you, you die. The entity is a slow moving, unstoppable monster that is always walking towards you, and if it catches you, you die.
One potential way to read the events of the film is that It Follows is about the inevitability of death. We simply don't know what this thing can do and can't do, as the film is unconcerned with dumping exposition to inoculate itself against this form of "plot hole"-centric film criticism, opting instead to keep the monster unknowable and mysterious, for good and for ill. Maybe sometimes it disappears for months, and other times it shows up everywhere you go, appearing suddenly and without warning. Hugh says it's always walking towards its next victim, but at one point, the monster is just standing still on Jay's roof. In an interview with Yahoo Movies, director David Robert Mitchell clarified that Hugh's understanding of the monster's "rules" are just based on his experiences, and they're perhaps inaccurate. Assume that Greg's cabin is a hundred miles away from Detroit, but it still finds them the very next day.
It follows me trailer movie#
Assume that Hugh is always tracking the monster's location, but it still almost gets him in the movie theater. Assume Annie, the first victim (Bailey Spry), does drive far enough away, but it still kills her. Try giving the film the benefit of the doubt. It's then that we enter into the film's thrilling and terrifying climax.īut you could read things another way. Despite not having any hard evidence of this creature's existence, Jay's friends decide to believe her story and band together to come up with a plan to kill this monster once and for all. It can look like a stranger or someone she knows, only she can see it, and if it ever catches her, she will die. After Jay and Hugh have sex for the first time, Hugh abandons her, and Jay learns that he's given her a terrible curse. It tells the story of Jay (Maika Monroe), a college student who starts dating a kind yet mysterious boy named Hugh (Jake Weary). follow.Įven though years have passed since its initial release, It Follows has stuck with us.
Some films are easy to leave behind, while others. They make you glance back over your shoulder as you walk down the street. Your pulse never changes during the initial viewing, and a week later, you barely remember the experience.