Trust takes a beating in terrifying ‘It Follows’
For a teenage girl, it can seem as though everyone is a potential predator. Some are benign, like the boys leering through a fence at a beautiful girl in a swimming pool. Others are more insidious. Actually letting anyone in is, at best, a gamble — one that could turn out disastrously.
That’s exactly what happens in “It Follows,” an unconventional horror film that ranks as one of the more brilliant and stylish genre send-ups in recent years. Writer-director David Robert Mitchell, who gained attention for his 2010 film “The Myth of the American Sleepover,” wastes no time before setting the mood with an invigorating prologue.
In a gorgeous, highly choreographed long take, we see a girl in short shorts and high heels burst out of her home. Terrified, she is running in circles from something we can’t see. The quiet of her suburban neighborhood at dusk and a pulsating musical score only intensify the anxiety as she jumps into the family car and speeds off to seek refuge.
The terror lingers as the scene shifts to the film’s central character — Jay, a lithe 19-year-old blonde, played by relative newcomer Maika Monroe (“The Guest,” “Labor Day”).
Things are languid and dreamy at Jay’s Detroit home as she prepares for a date. Though still young, she is self-possessed and confident. Her suitor, Hugh (Jake Weary), is a bit older, and it’s clear they don’t know each other well just yet.
But soon they make love in the back seat of Hugh’s car. Then, in the next scene, we see him telling Jay, almost apologetically, that she is going to be followed by something — a supernatural force — one that can be seen only by its intended victim. This force can take on the appearance of any human, whether a stranger, acquaintance or a friend.
This force had been following Hugh, he says, but he passed it to Jay by having sex with her — the only way a potential victim can get rid of it. He advises Jay to make love to someone else as soon as possible — a suggestion that is not altogether altruistic, since if it kills Jay, it will start trailing Hugh again.
While this might seem like an exploitative plot device to set up a scenario in which a pretty young woman must sleep her way through the town to rid herself of a demon, Mitchell never actually presents anything particularly sleazy. And this story is greatly aided by Monroe’s skill at projecting a sense of strength that elevates her character above merely a scantily clad damsel in distress.
Jay’s sister (Lili Sepe) and their friends (played by Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi and Daniel Zovatto) band together to try to protect Jay. But the scary conceit that the demon might appear as anyone — from an elderly stranger to a BFF — keeps us on the edge of our seats.
While the film delivers several moments of sheer terror, at times it seems to be more about the dangers of trusting the wrong person than anything else. And yet, like the best horror flicks, “It Follows” just might make you start looking around to see who — or what — is behind you.