Night 2: It Follows

"A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after getting involved in a sexual encounter."

I'm going to try to write this post without revealing any spoilers. I apologize if one slips. 

When I first watched the trailer for this movie, I was instantly interested. It looked and sounded like a horror movie that left you creeped out without any specific visual burned into your brain. Plus, people genuinely seemed excited to watch it. 

Then people watched it. 

I've seen so many mixed reviews on this movie! A LOT of people hated it. They didn't think it was scary. They thought the plot was dumb. There was disappointment in lack of explanation. Why though? Why does everything need an explanation? Isn't it scarier when something just... is? This guy's review on IMDB pretty much summed up my thoughts on the matter.

"As it seems to be the case these days, horror movies without the tiresome jump-scares or which don't regurgitate haunted houses, creepy kids, or possessed girls get a lot of abuse from certain sections of the horror audience. If you like those tropes, avoid It Follows. If you like fresh, daring, and thoughtful horror which lingers long after the film ends, watch it. Now!" - Roman James Hoffman, IMDB

I got to watch this movie with my 21-year-old nephew and my sweet mom. It was interesting hearing the thought dynamics between us. But we all did get the heebie-jeebies at the same parts. We all had the same questions. We had a lot of fun with it! 

I've read the director took a lot of inspiration from older horror movies. The opening shot makes this clear as a teenage girl runs away from something in little clothes and heels. HEELS. One of my pet peeves with any movie is when women continue to run in heels (Jurassic World, I'm looking at you). However, I also hate when they DON'T put shoes on and they're running around with no shoes on (The Strangers). It really bothers me, guys. 

This movie was also different in the sense they never addressed when it was taking place. Present? Future? Past? Summer? Winter? Characters were in swimming pools one scene, coats in another. There is literally a scene where one character is in shorts and a t-shirt and the other is in a heavy sweater/coat and jeans. Also, there is Jetsons-like technology going on with one girl and if you don't read ahead, you're bothered by exactly WHAT she is using. At one point my nephew asked when this was supposed to take place, because they didn't even have color televisions, but that was definitely a 2014 Ford F-150. So let me save you some time and say this may have been done intentionally, taking nostalgic scenes from the past, putting them in present time with some future aspects. Sounds weird, but you'll see. 

It's hard to not make the STD comparison. So hard. You have sex with someone, catch It, and then have to pass it on to someone else. Easy enough, right?

Overall, I did like this movie. Is it a favorite? Not yet. Will I watch it again? For sure. There seems to be layers to this movie and I expect to catch something new with each viewing. And while it didn't leave me scared of creepy dead kids standing at the foot of my bed, it probably did ignite a paranoia of, well, people walking my way.

"Don't have sex, because you will get pregnant and die! Don't have sex in the missionary position, don't have sex standing up – just don't do it, OK? Promise? OK, now everybody take some rubbers." - Coach Carr, Mean Girls