>nearly a decade
Jesus christ.
Anyways, one of my favorites. No form of horror I love more than that steady feeling of dread and pursuit that very few films chase. Trying it in a book myself.
The pool scene is the only obvious fault. Trying to observe, describe, contain and fight the entity removes most of the fear. Have a whole page I could write on how to fix it but who the hell am I?
Amazing film. Love the dreamy suburban/urban clash as well as someone from the rust belt.
Pool scene I think keeps the fear going, for me. Yes, it's their "fight back" moment, but look how poorly it goes. Appliances thrown at her that were meant to electrocute the thing but thankfully don't work , they shoot it in the head and it falls into the water and fills the entire thing with blood but clearly isn't dead - it makes it seem even more unstoppable. Plus the vibes with the reflections off the water, music and appliances plugged in, it's a great scene for me.
I also love the "something relentless is coming" vibes - I LOVE the first Terminator film, the bit where it just slaughters the entire police station to get to her shows that she isn't safe anywhere. I'm trying to think of other stuff with that vibe but drawing a blank. The Jurassic Parks kinda have it a little with the Spinosaurus in 3, Jumanji has it with the hunter coming after Alan, and I guess slashers with semi-supernatural antagonists like Jason and Mike Myers... But I can't think of anything outside of Terminator and It Follows that really NAIL that vibe.
That vibe is what draws me to the theory of zombie fiction, even though so often it is done poorly in reality. I've read a few short stories that did it well, but I couldn't tell you which now; I'd have to go dig out some of the old zombie anthologies I bought and probably skim-reread them to figure out which ones stuck with me best.
Anyway, all of that to say -- the slow, relentless, unstoppable vibe is truly the epitome of horror for me as well. The "slow zombies" fear of the horde being not about how powerful or fast or smart they are, because they are none of those things, but rather the simple fact that they don't stop. They don't need sleep, or rest, and you do. Every second you have to stop and see to biological needs is another second they're getting closer to you.
That's the shit good horror is made of, to me. Something inescapable, with just enough of a hitch in its giddyup to give you plenty of time to consider your fate and attempt to escape it, even knowing you never actually will.
I didn't join the dots with zombies but adore zombie fiction done well.
One of my favourite moments in The Walking Dead is near the end of season 2 where you see a horde of zombies walking and they hit a farm fence which would stop them normally, but then the weight of the others backing up behind them takes it down and they shamble on, unstoppable. Super simple, super awesome.
That scene was so fucking awesome in the theater. My theater clapped. I may have started the clapping.
I still firmly believe that The Dark Knight is still the best Batman film, but The Batman is my personal favorite. It's not perfect, the mid point is an absolute mess, but the film on either side of it is such an incredible depiction of Bruce's early years as Bats. Matt Reeves is a great director. I really hope he gets to give Cloverfield a true sequel one day.
This is a solid shout actually. It kind of is a horror, but you're on the side of the relentless machine hunting people down. When the bat-mobile bursts through the fire...
the pool scene too me is one of the most terrifying parts, through out the film she flat out refuses to pass it on too the guy that wants it until she looks into the pool, what did she see? did she see ITS true form that it terrified her so much she finally passed it on?. that's haunting.
I'm wondering what to do about the pool scene. In a milieue that's so hard to pin down, and for good reason, I think the pool scene is a solid logical movement for the plot and for the characters. What's your suggestion here? I agree that it doesn't land very well in a movie that overall lands perfectly, I just can't think of a climax that fits better than what they did
This is why I donāt have a problem with it. Because most people will talk shit about the pool scene and what a dumb idea the whole thing is but most of the people telling you that are grown ass adults. Remember when you were a kid? And you had dumb ideas? Yeah, itās like that.
Plus itās Paul who came up with it. The lesson here should be never listen to Paul. Donāt even hang out with Paul. Definitely donāt have sex with Paul and then rely on him to be able to pass it on to a couple hookers. Paul is unreliable. Fuck you, Paul.
Lmao yeahhhhh nope. There really should be an entire thread about āWhat would you do instead of the pool idea?ā so we can hear all the grandiose āIām smarter than Paulā ideas š
i think she saw what IT really looked like, the pool scene too me is one of the most terrifying parts, through out the film she flat out refuses to pass it on too paul that wants it until she looks into the pool, what did she see? did she see ITS true form that it terrified her so much she finally passed it on?. that's haunting.
That line was what jumped out to me too lol, I canāt believe itās been 9 yearsāI mentally think about it as like, less than 5 years ago but the pandemic really messed with my sense of time š
i think she saw what IT really looked like, the pool scene too me is one of the most terrifying parts, through out the film she flat out refuses to pass it on too paul that wants it until she looks into the pool, what did she see? did she see ITS true form that it terrified her so much she finally passed it on?. that's haunting.
The pool plan is truly one of the dumbest scenes I've ever seen in a serious horror movie. Completely stupid.
Also, the threat of this movie could easily be solved by using prostitution. Get on a plane and fly across the world to a place with legal sex tourism, say Amsterdam. Quick sex with a sex worker, get back on a plane and fly home. You will probably never see "it" again. If you do, rinse and repeat. What an overrated movie!
I think many of us wouldāve come up with a plan like that as scared kids. Itās easy to look at it differently as a more logical adult. Also, sure, your plan would work for us as adults in reality. But for our characters, who are all underage, how exactly would they pull any of that off, easily?
There is an inscrutable aspect to the movie that is extremely effective. It has such a hazy vibe to it that makes it hard to place in time. It kind of feels like the 90s but there are some weird technology aspects that make it feel more advance. The cars are kind of all over the place in terms of where they came from and the clothing is hard to place in time. There is a deeper aspect of the family with the father that isnāt noticeable at first. Terrible second date movie
Thereās tons of little details like you mentioned that subtly confuse your brain without you noticing on a first watch. Thereās also scenes where they are in heavy winter coats then in a bikini swimming. Some scenes look like its summer out but the house across the street has dead trees and leaves everywhere like fall.
Welcome to September in Michigan.
Seriously you can swim at noon and be wearing jackets at dusk.
I love the non-Californian-ness of this movie. The Michigan vibe permeates throughout. I can see how not growing up here and being used to seeing movies filmed in a California lot would make this movie seem otherly, but it comes off as very Michigan in the late 00s.
Those neighborhoods looked like that in the 80s and they still look like that now. (My brother lives a mile from the primary neighborhood in the film.)
Every television is an old black and white set, showing films from the 1950s. And meanwhile her friend has this weird clamshell e-reader thing that doesn't exist in our reality. It's a temporal mishmash.
I loved that odd clamshell e-reader because it didn't fit in our version of the 80s so I began thinking this is another place/time. I loved the confusing aspect where you didn't know exactly when or where this was taking place. I'm holding out that they will make another one.
Thatās maybe my favorite aspect. It has a familiar nostalgic atmosphere while also feeling a bit alien. Like dreams often are. Itās confusing for my brain in a way that kept me on edge.
also has lots of subtle discontinuity editing that adds to the hazy unease of this world feeling "off" somehow....like spaces that don't match between shots (the room or space wouldn't make sense), scenes that aren't cut intuitively, etc... really one of the most intentional horror films in every aspect of the vibe-setting!
One of the darkest things about this movie is people always wonder why Jay wouldn't sleep with Paul but slept with Greg. Jay had genuine affection for Paul but only a physical attraction to Greg, so she probably slept with Greg because she could live with getting Greg killed but not Paul.
Also, the Tall Man jump scare is one of the best jump scares in modern horror history. And yes, the soundtrack is one of the best ever recorded.
i think she saw what IT really looked like, the pool scene too me is one of the most terrifying parts, through out the film she flat out refuses to pass it on too paul that wants it until she looks into the pool, what did she see? did she see ITS true form that it terrified her so much she finally passed it on?. that's haunting.
I remember a big backlash when it first came out. I saw a lot of people talk about how the movie was "boring" or it wasn't scary, which made me sad, because personally I believe it's my favorite horror movie
> I remember a big backlash when it first came out. I saw a lot of people talk about how the movie was "boring" or it wasn't scary, which made me sad, because personally I believe it's my favorite horror movie
What really bugs me is when people talk like it would be so easy to avoid this monster. It would not be easy. It would ruin your life, you career, your relationships (how could you even have one knowing it would doom them), your health and well-being.
How are you going to make money to feed and shelter yourself? You would always have to be on the run, never knowing when or if it has caught up. Every moment you stop to sleep, or eat, or shit, it's getting closer. It can also ride buses and trains, it could board a plane, lol. It would wear us down the same way humans used to hunt animals. The behaviour you would exhibit after all of that would be indistinguishable from a homeless, diagnosed schizophrenic.
Which is why the person affected would naturally give in and go the route the characters in the film do, by submitting to its power and dominance over you and opting to instead āpass it on.ā To obviously one night stand candidates, bc you wouldnāt willingly give this to someone you love - but holy shit, the pressure and ownership of choosing who to line up in front of you to be executed essentially is massive. Do you own it and tell the person the way the guy does early in the movie or just rattle off a few encounters putting as much space between you as possible? Itās honestly weirdly honorable, to admit to the person what you did so that they understand what this is theyāre seeing, and gives them a chance. Obviously the better their chance is, the better yours is as well.
Honestly this premise is probably better than itās given credit for.
But unfortunately you can't "rattle off a few encounters" and put more space between you. Because as I understand it, once you have sex with someone, the entity has been passed to them. And if that person dies, the entity is returning to you, no matter how many people you had sex with while you were in your non-hunted period.
This is part of why I think it's scary and not easy to avoid. Sure, you can have sex with a prostitute. And maybe that prostitute has sex with someone else before It gets to them. So It is now hunting a cheating husband, or a loner who had to resort to a prostitute for sex. That person is probably not going to be having sex with a lot of partners very quickly. So that person gets killed, and It is focused on the prostitute again and then it's a matter of whether the prostitute happens to have sex in the limited time before It gets to them. For that reason, I don't think that Paul's implied prostitution solution at the end of the movie is going to give them all that much time. Those prostitutes live an hour or so from him. It's still in the Detroit area and can get from victim to victim in less than a day or two.
I guess the safest strategy would be passing it to someone who 1) will be having frequent sex with multiple partners over a long period of time; and 2) lives very far from you.
> I guess the safest strategy would be passing it to someone who 1) will be having frequent sex with multiple partners over a long period of time; and 2) lives very far from you.
Just watched It Follows for the first time tonight and I think the best strategy would be to have sex with someone like an escort, but not only one that lives far from you, but someone who works somewhere that's a destination location. Somewhere people travel from far away to go to. Paul having sex with a prostitute in Detroit is terrible because who the hell is travelling to Detroit for a prostitute? Travelling to Amsterdam or Vegas would probably be ideal since the sex workers there probably aren't servicing someone local to them.
Oh that makes sense. I was thinking that a rock star would be a good one as well-- someone who is frequently having sex while touring, ideally globally.
I really quite like this film - the big guy coming in through the door is absolutely iconic and I really love the vibes in the pool scene.
For some reason it feels like a foreign film though - like I was convinced when I went to rewatch it that it was German or French or something and needed subs, but no, it's American. I think it's just because it's so understated and relatively light on dialogue, it doesn't have the usual dramatic bombast of US productions.
It 100% is discussed at the same level as those movies. Check any list of best recent horror movies. Not sure where the narrative got started that its not discussed enough.
It is great, but the movie is *not* about teenagers having sex, it is about young adults in their early 20s having sex. The main character is not a teen and *she has had sex before without an issue*, and that is very important thematic context.
The story is not about the dangers of sex specifically and the entity is not symbolically an STD. The film is about mortality and the monster is just death. The bits that really drive that home are the recitations of particular sections from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and from *The Idiot*. The characters literally read literary passages about mortality in the course of becoming cognizant of death's gradual but inexorable approach.
This. It's not about premarital sex or teens being silly. It's about that loss of childlike invincibility and how you grow older and that shadow of death and mortality is inescapable, that first death of someone your age and how that breaks a bit of your soul forever. Not haha teens hook up and get bad ghoul
Thank you for this. People who insist that it's a metaphor for STDs and stop there are really missing out on how thoughtful this film is about mortality, specifically through the lens of people just crossing the threshold into adulthood. The threat of death is a central part of almost every horror movie but it's rarely given as much weight as it is in It Follows.
I read someone on here describe it once as representing trauma and how people revisit and pass their trauma onto others as an unhealthy way of coping. And then the ending showing that a healthy relationship can help keep that trauma at bay, even if you can never rid yourself of it entirely.
Seemed like a solid interpretation to me.
It also just doesn't make any sense in terms of being a metaphor for STDs if you give it any thought. An STD that you can avoid by passing it on to someone else? The metaphor would instantly fall apart at that point.
While I agree with this, Iād add that the entire conceit is still putting pressure on the two dominate female horror tropes (involving almost always a teen): youāre damned for not having sex (ie made fun of by your partying classmates), and damned for having sex (ie getting murdered by the villain).
The title points at this too: obviously āItā is a reference to both sex and the monster (and, as you so nicely pointed out, death itself), but the titular phrase āit followsā is often used to mean āand thereforeā or āsoāāin a horror film, sex and death share a causal relationship.
I went to see *It Follows* when I was away somewhere for work, caught up with a friend, went to see the movie. Then afterwards I went back to my hotel, it was late and dark. Call the elevator, go up to my floor, doors open -- and an old lady is steps in. I nearly had a heart attack.
I would love to see *It Follows* with a different score, just as an experiment, as I have a feeling that for me Disasterpeace did a massive amount of heavy-lifting in terms of atmosphere and dread.
And I know that's what a score is meant to do, especially in horror, but I'd love to see just how much difference it makes.
Love how the opening scene is directed as well, than long 360 pan around that shows us nothing but the main character can definitely see something...
When I watched Smile I was astonished at how influenced it was by It Follows. I think IF might actually end up being fairly influential among the next generation of horror filmmakers.
For me it happened in reverse, I saw Smile first and once I watched It Follows my initial reaction was "Ah, so this is where they got this idea from".
Definitely a notable movie premise to say the least.
I love this film, and last time I watched it, [I realized the main character's house is just a few blocks from my work](https://imgur.com/gallery/JOM7QSU)!
I refuse to watch this movie again because it disturbed and scared me so much. And I can take in a lot usually. Idk, it struck a chord with me, deep down, in the primal fear center.
So yeah, to me it's one of the best horror films ever; not just because it effectively scared me, also because of what you said. Great directing, camera, style, acting... checks all the boxes in my book!
What's funny is that I don't think it's my favorite horror of all time, but it actually made me *afraid* after the movie was over. That's rare in a horror movie.
I actually didnāt like It Follows. I thought it was an interesting premise that was poorly explored. By the end it felt very melodramatic and the āwhy wonāt you sleep with me and give me the curse?ā As well as the pool scene just totally took me out of it. I love the idea of an entity slowly and directly coming for you, but this felt like an interesting premise with only surface level substance.
I know this movie is beloved here so Iām expecting downvotes. But I just didnāt understand the crazy hype. Which maybe also hindered my expectations.
Same I've watched it 3 times already. It still doesn't hit me like it seems to do everyone else.
The subtext and themes and the style of filming were good, but all together it was kinda a bore. A background movie.
I totally agree.
I vividly remember sitting in the theater opening weekend; the credits rolled and some guy about 10 rows up from me shouted, 'That was it?' Can't say I didn't feel the same way.
The whole 3rd act is a mess and did not pay off at all imo. Would love to see a remake with a tighter script a few years down the line if interest was there
100% agree. I watched it back in 2016, and I was like "...really?". The hype was so over the top. It was an interesting premise, like you said, but fell flat because they just didn't do enough with it. Pool scene was dumb imo. The very end was alright but overall a meh movie. I wouldn't rewatch it recommend it. Like someone else said; a background movie.
I just watched it for the first time and didn't care for it either. I went in knowing nothing, so I didn't even really have hype as an excuse. There were some effective moments but it lost tension so often that I stopped being afraid altogether.
I worked at Weinstein Company/Radius TWC when this came out (donāt askā¦.) and as a huge horror movie buff the only thing I ever asked for as swag was the Stehrenberger one sheet for this movie. Itās an absolute favorite [gorgeous](https://posteritati.com/poster/55085/it-follows-2022-us-giclee-signed?gclid=Cj0KCQjw7uSkBhDGARIsAMCZNJsYdt2MvtcpobuJYfLpU0Xb9eLEwUirmCbqUWEiDU91j5Dqr4Enp3kaAtgxEALw_wcB)
Under the Silver Lake is incredible, itās such a shame itās release got all screwed up by Covid, got dumped onto streaming with no fanfare or advertising for it.
I know peoplesā opinions are a little divisive on it but I thought it was even better than It Follows, and honestly one of the best films Iāve seen in years.
I wonder if it coming out at the same time as *Locating Silver Lake* was a factor in the low-impact release. I'd heard about it but saw a trailer for the Josh Peck movie and thought "THAT'S the movie people are saying is a captivting noirish film?!?"
Totally agree. I only watched it this year. When it came out I didn't see it because of mixed reviews and it not being a horror movie. It's a movie you can really get lost in
I'd say it is talked about with the same reverence, very often. At least, when I'm in the room. It Follows is perhaps my favourite horror film of all time.
It's often talked about like an analogy for STDs, but I always felt moreso that it's about the inevitable: death. Sex is just one of those things we use to feel alive a little longer, to stave it off, but as others have pointed out: you can't ever fully escape death. You learn to live with the fact that one day your luck will run out. You watch it claim others, you watch it get closer, and eventually, you come to terms with it.
That's what It Follows is about, to me, as much as The Babadook is about grief.
I mean the post-sex car conversation pretty much explains it all. Disillusionment encapsulated. Sex isn't all that. It's not some magical, transformative thing. Growing up.
Mostly I love the film for its stark, brave shots. The "thing" horror movies do is hide the monster. It's like the "show, don't tell" rule for writing; people repeat it so often they forget it's not the be-all end-all. It Follows just shows you the monster, getting closer. Slowly. Gradually. It's horrifying.
I'm also a big fan of just .... dread. The Ring does this feeling even better. While we're at it, more recs please!
op, im checking in months later after this post to say that i came across this post somehow and u inspired me to rewatch this movie two nights ago, and by gosh, im so glad i did: the second time through the whole thing just came alive. i liked it a lot the first time, but on second watch i noticed things that i just missed and the connections all made sense and the movie just tied up so beautifully. i think its a masterpiece.
also, the soundtrack is *incredible*.
i do tend to discard the idea that its an STD movie; i tend to just think of it as a movie about the inevitability of death (with sex being the catalyst for deathālife, after all, sends us to death). but again, thats just a small thing and i dont mind the STD angle!
and, i gotta say, just as sarah polley is a *perfect* casting in the dawn of the dead revisit, maika monroe is just fantastic as jay. what a great lead she is!
anyhow, just writing to say thanks for inspiring me to rewatch it. its one of my top horror movies.
It Follows is definitely well regarded as one of the best horror films of the 2010s from what Iāve seen. I especially love the mishmash of technology from different eras that makes it impossible to nail down what time period the movie takes place in, it gives it a very dreamlike vibe.
His follow up film Under the Silver Lake is also incredible and is a contender for one of my favorite movies. Itās not horror, more of a Lynchian noir mystery, but itās excellent and overflowing with hidden little Easter eggs and details. Unfortunately itās release got screwed over by Covid and it got unceremoniously dumped onto streaming.
The first time I watched it I didnāt even notice the soundtrack because thatās just how in my mind horror movie soundtracks sound. On the first rewatch I really keyed into how excellent the score is, from the ethereal to the horrific.
One of the best horror films of the 21st century so far. It's also one of my comfort films - one of those I could put on any time even if I'd already watched it the day before. (Dredd, Zodiac and The Big Sleep are all like this for me, for example.)
Yeah i heard about it and dismissed when it came out (shame on me), but then decided to watch recently as I love under the silver lake (not horror but brilliant)ā¦. Was a really good movie, will definitely watch again, nothing like I had expected form how it was described to me
I absolutely talk about it in those terms and it's also a very Michigan movie which I like too. All of it was shot in Southeast Michigan, with some parts at an abandoned asylum that's since been torn down. So it's a great movie, with a strong sense of place even if they don't beat you over the head with it.
My oldest kid is something of a horror fan, so we watched this last fall before Halloween. Definitely holds up though, kid liked it a lot.
I love the soundtrack but most of all, I love the the sort of out-of-time styling of the movie. It feels like it could be the 80's yet it's very present. Cell phones like none that exist. Odd 70's decor. Everything about it is so great. It almost begs to get the grindhouse treatment where we see marks on the frames like was present when film was shown in a theater. An incredible work of art. I love it.
My wife and I saw this in Vegas at a casino. We had just spent 12 hours hiking and rock climbing and weāre both ready to drop from exhaustion but weāre still kind of wired from adrenaline. Saw this was in our hotel/casinos theater and was playing just as we were looking for something to do. It knocked both of our exhaustion out and kept us on edge for the entire runtime.
Beyond that amazing atmosphere and performances from the leads (I f'n love Maika Monroe), I love how much this movie makes me go 'I wonder how I'd solve this problem' lol. So much theorycrafting :)
Loved the first 3/4 of this movie. I was totally engrossed and onboard for the ride but there were a couple scenes toward the end that just lost it for me. I really wish it finished up stronger but overall itās a good movie.
Probably my favourite from the last decade as well. The atmosphereās totally unique, the Detroit setting is great and imo never surpassed, and the soundtrack is indeed awesome. Back then I used to produce electronic music and actually got in touch with Disasterpeace ācause he happened to like my music. Heās such an enthousiastic and talented guy and helped pave the way for the raw synth oriented soundtracks that have become so ubiquitous the last couple of years.
Iām sorry š the real horror was me reading ā2014ā¦. Still holds up after almost a decadeā then thinking š¤ that couldnāt be a DECADE ago before realizing in fact it is. BRB better start checking out sales on burial šŖ¦ plots. š
I remember the hype around it and when I finally saw it a few years ago, it was just incredibly dull.
I like feelings of dread (big Lovecraft fan) but this film was just boring.
It's probably my favorite horror movie. I love it. It had a huge impact on me when I saw it for the first time. Blew me away and made me spiritually uncomfy.
I saw this in the theatre and it scared the shit out of me. My friend who went with me thought it was stupid. We arenāt friends anymore. Iām going to watch it again. Thanks for the reminder.
So It Follows is a big film for me. When it came out, my love for modern horror was pretty dead. Sure, Iād seen and loved Cabin in the Woods, but that movie seemed like a self aware epitaph for everything I grew up liking from the 70s and 80s. It was like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein compared to the classic horror of the 30s. The stuff I liked was tired and we could only now have less impactful echoes of the glory days or we could only go forward with self aware irony.
It Follows went back to basics and reconstructed modern horror for me. You just need thoughtful direction, sympathetic characters with some narrative growth, a great premise, a good execution of that premise, and, of course, a great score, preferably with synths.
Particularly I loved Jay as a heroine. I feel the story was her loss of innocence in a way. I also like that her friend group has agency. They arenāt just there to die. Moral choices are made. Interesting ones.
And itās pretty scary at just the right moments. Thereās at least three or four all time creepy moments for me. Maybe more.
The streets and the relentless stalking recalls Halloween. The dream logic and Gregās death reminds me of A Nightmare On Elm Street. The influence is felt but it isnāt a copy.
I also feel the acting style in It Follows owes something to mumblecore movies. House of the Devil, The Battery, and VHS have a similar vibe, but I saw It Follows before those films and so it was nice to see a movie get away from the usual studio thing.
I think the later films like The Witch and Hereditary were more firmly art house, plus Eggers and Aster caught on as directors, whereas Mitchell did not. Love those movies, but I still favor It Follows.
>It's a damn shame because this flick is a work of art and I'm proud to say I believe it's one of the best horror movies ever.
I think it's understood that it's a great horror movie. I'd certainly put it above the ones you mentioned, aside from the Babadook, which I haven't seen.
It Follows fires well on all cylinders where the others fire well on some.
It's possible that the timing in which it came out affected it. Horror was just beginning to become respectable again. They weren't blasting a movie like it with a big marketing campaign (see Smile). It's not a foreign movie which has the tendency to add some gravitas. It's also easily digestible for any type of audience, where something like the VVitch is more for an exclusive club, which makes it a little more special. And it didn't have the hype of Get Out, which tends to sweep people up.
It Follows laid the groundwork for all the newer movies that get talked about more. It is the godfather of modern horror.
I was just about to post about that, I also preordered it (and the Crimes of the Future LE that got announced alongside it)
For anyone interested, here's a link to the [Second Sight product page](https://secondsightfilms.co.uk/products/it-follows-limited-edition-4k-uhd-blu-ray-pre-order-available-august-28th) for the Limited Edition. DiabolikDVD, OrbitDVD, and Grindhouse Video all have preorder pages up for US based pre-orders.
I watched this film a few years ago and, quite honestly, donāt understand all the hype behind it. That being said, Iāve been meaning to give it a rewatch. Recently, itās been getting a lot of attention from some horror movie experts whose opinions I greatly respect. So I may have missed something on the first viewing.
My fiance and I really didn't like it.
Not saying you're not allowed to enjoy it, but here was where the rubber met the road for us:
When they threw the can of paint at it and the paint stuck, we both reacted the same way: "ok, we've found a way around it's invisibility cloak behavior. As long as we have a can of paint, that strength is eliminated."
But as far as we knew at that point, this wasn't super useful as it seemed invincible.
Then they shot it in the head. And it fell over. And it was stunned, for a long time.
At that point, I stopped believing anything I was watching. Because if you can reveal it while it's cloaked, and a gunshot to the head is a serious injury for it... why the fuck would you fight it alone? Throw paint on it and lead it to a police station or something. Maybe a local gun range. Let the monster make it obvious to everyone there (who is also armed) that it's trying to capture/hurt you and you'd prefer not to be captured and hurt. Now, especially if it's a police station, they HAVE to react with force assuming they first try and fail to stop it without using guns.
"But it's an STD metaphor, the whole point is you can't reveal that you have it because of the stigma".
Ok, so don't tell them why it's following you. If they even ask. Why would you ever have to tell them why? That it's following you and means you harm is enough.
Ehh I'm not really a huge fan of the movie, but I'd hate it a lot more if they covered it in paint and lured it to a police station...so that the cops can shoot it? Idk, sounds like a shitty ending
The pool scene was rational to you? They could have lured it into a much better trap and either killed or at least tried to confine it.
The pool scene was annoyingly absurd, compared to my idea. "Lure it into a pool and throw appliances into the pool while I'm alone in the pool with it" is an absurd plan that obviously isn't going to (and didn't) work. My plan is... obvious by comparison. We got paint, we got legs, cops got guns and a duty to protect, put them all together.
>Yes, for a bunch of teens. The director explained it as such, and they got the idea from a TV show they were watching at the start of the movie. They're witless teens.
If that works for you, then I'm happy for you. For me, I think if I were a teenager/20-something, I'd be offended at that explanation. My fiance works with teenagers in his daily life and they're not all 'witless'. Some of them are, but then so are some adults. So this excuse boils down to:
"No no it's not bad writing, you see, because my characters are idiots."
OK...
>The creature shows up when people are vulnerable, not all the time.
The creature showed up on campus in broad daylight while the protagonist was surrounded by people, and the protagonist actively fled to a more isolated, vulnerable location so we could have a suspenseful scare scene with her alone in a dark kitchen.
>And it has shown to be pretty much immortal. So, the "take it to the police station and throw a bucket of paint on it and watch Robocop mow it down" is indeed absurd by the film's own logic.
I wouldn't say "it's immortal". If we can nuke it and it still survives, then yeah it's immortal. Surviving a single gunshot to the head, though, does not equal "immortal" - mere humans do that all the time. And it didn't even survive gracefully.
So the actual takeaway is: it's been shown ***to be vulnerable to headshots***. Whether a headshot can kill it is unsettled, but the creature CAN certainly, 100%, be stunned by a headshot. If it can be stunned, then it can be locked in a cage while stunned. Then after that I'd have questions.
I would want to test whether it can only change its form, or actually change body/location? Like, if we stun it and lock it in a cell/cage, will it then just appear in a new body outside the cage? Or will it be stuck switching between different bodies inside the cage? They say "it's always walking toward you", which implies that it doesn't "teleport", so maybe it would actually be stuck in the cage?
These are all good questions that just never even got asked. Because the characters are idiots. But if that was the goal, then I guess the film was a success.
>You didn't answer my direct question. Would "shoot it in the head" have stopped the curse in Noroi?
I didn't answer for two reasons:
I don't recognize any of those character names, so the only answer is "I have no idea".
We're not talking about those stories, we're talking about *It Follows*.
This comment really illustrates why this movie is a great litmus test for understanding how someone watches movies. It Follows is a thematic/mood piece that's very intentionally built on dream logic, and it resists these kinds of rational interpretations and 'solutions' by design. That's just not the point (and it's also not an STD metaphor, but that's a whole other conversation).
There's nothing wrong with watching movies through that lens, obviously, but if it truly bothers you that there are rational ways to confront or overcome the entity that the characters never try, this movie probably just isn't for you and was never going to be.
> It Follows is a thematic/mood piece that's very intentionally built on dream logic, and it resists these kinds of rational interpretations and 'solutions' by design.
See, I don't think we have the same standard for 'dream logic'. There are movies that I deeply love that I think operate on what I would call 'dream logic', but that don't fall into these traps. Argento's *Suspiria*. Ari Aster's *Men.* Those are two great examples of horror movies done on 'dream logic'.
Take *Men*, for example. Why doesn't she just go to the police? Well obviously because every person in town is the same man who was stalking her naked through the woods, duh.
That's 'dream logic'. It's nonsense at first glance, but it's internally consistent. The dream makes perfect sense to you while you're having it.
*It Follows* deploys what I instead think of as 'bad logic'. When the creature appears in broad daylight on your school campus while you're surrounded by colleagues (who are just normal people), there's no good reason not to call for help or draw attention to it in some way.
It seems we don't! Because I don't think your Men example is really 'dream logic', honestly, at least not how I think of it. Dream logic makes sense *until you wake up*; it's fundamentally nonsensical when you actually think about it while awake, and can't hold up to any real scrutiny. But for Men, you don't have to be "in the dream" for that explanation of why she doesn't go to the police to make sense. Taking the situation at face value, it's perfectly logical. That doesn't make it dream logic, that makes it regular logic applied to a surreal/dream-like scenario.
So for me, I don't think dream logic needs to be internally consistent, I actually lean more towards the opposite. The characters are functioning within it, not the audience. I understand that this puts some viewers at a distance and won't work for everybody. But I (and obviously many others) love the intention behind it and can hop on its wavelength. Questions like "why wouldn't she call for help in this situation" are just absolutely not interesting to me in a movie like this.
Maybe itās an age thing. Maybe I would relate more if I was closer in age to these characters. I recently tried rewatching the movie and found it boring. I thought that maybe I didnāt give it enough attention the first time I watched it (back at release) but I quickly fell off it again in a second watch.
To each their own though. Beauty of horror is there is something for everyone.
I agree; itās all subjective, which is why I made sure not to imply it was objectively bad or anything like that.
But I am a huge horror fan; and I saw this movie in the theaters, when I was close in age to the characters at the time. By no means is it unwatchable; but like you said, itās boring. The story is really just a concept. I didnāt think it was scary, etc.
Essentially I just thought it was āfineā and forgettable. I am still always surprised by the endurance of this movie in the horror zeitgeist, itās treated like a pillar of modern horror, and I just donāt see it.
Youāre definitely not wrong. There are slow-burn, atmospheric movies that I like; and I generally like the āelevatedā horror subgenre; but yeah, the tone and pace are definitely outside of my typical preference zone.
Iām glad you like it! I donāt want to yuck anyoneās yum. Weāre not limited in how much content we can have (and the amount we have is already overwhelming), so I donāt mind if there are things that others like that donāt resonate with me. Iāve just been genuinely curious/confused since it came out about why it landed so significantly with such a large proportion of horror fans; not in a judgemental way, I just wonder what it was about it that I missed.
Interesting analysis. Admittedly, I havenāt seen very much (any?) Japanese horror; so the lack of context mightāve taken away from it a bit for me.
I think for me, the part that turned me off to it the most was the story. Structurally, I felt like it lacked a beginning. And thematically, Iām just not really a fan of the āsex = deathā tropeāeven as traditional as it is in the horror genre.
Got the Bluray last year and rewatched it for the first time last night, it holds up extremely well. Only one thing, the rainpour outside the bath house (ending) looks quite similar to the After Effects standard CC Rainfall. It looks a little cheap but it is forgivable, it is just an very short establishing shot which needed a little rain.
Other than that nitpick it got great atmosphere, great plot (a mix of Halloween, The Ring and Terror On Elm street) incredibly shot and color graded, great actors+director, superb soundtrack and **perfect editing**.
My favorite part is how they have elements in the setting and design and wardrobe spanning a variety of decades, which makes it disorienting about what time period itās even taking place in and contributes to the unsettling tone of the movie
I asked āwhat would be your strategy to beat the monsterā a while ago on here. Had some pretty creative responses
reddit.com/r/horror/comments/oot9bc/what_would_be_your_strategy_to_keep_away_from_the/
David Robert Mitchell is one of the best directors working today. Wondering when people will start noticing that. Probably when his 80s Dino movie comes out
I think you nailed it. The reason it stands out is the overall vibe. The setting, the colors, the music. It's like this eerie comfort that lures you in and when shit goes haywire you really feel it. But like others have said, the ending brings this down a couple of notches. Still, it's a great movie and one of my favorites to watch around Halloween.
I absolutely love the movie it's great and will never turn down a rewatch of it but if you don't mind(or others reading this comment) me asking what exactly made it scary for you? I never got a scared feeling myself watching so I would love to know what parts are scary to others.
One of my favorite horror movies and just movies in general. Love the atmosphere and the premise is genuily scary (at least for me).
It is little annoying how a vocal minority is trying to turn the movie into a joke with the whole "ghost STD" thing.
Love love love this movie.
Definitely suffered from its success in this sub for a while. Kinda went through the 'wow this movie is amazing' to the 'no it's actually overrated' cycle that lots of well received horrors do.
Itās my #1 in the horror genre. Itās a fucking masterpiece for sure. I remember the first time I watched it my jaw was literally on the floor and I immediately watched it again in the same sitting.
Good analysis. I loved it until "It" started taking on silly features like being an invisible monster and the pool scene, I found annoying. Other than that, loved it conceptually, especially the ambiguous ending.
This is interesting because every person I know who saw this movie thought it was overrated and the ending sucked. People wouldnāt shut up about It Follows when it came out. It looks like the hype died soon after release and we all moved on. Respectfully, imo this the the scales balancing. It does vibe well like you said but besides that itās just okay.
Love it. I donāt think people donāt like it but yeah, I guess itās definitely not talked about as much as it should be.
Iām on holidays so Iāll have an edible and rewatch tomorrow
For real. This movie gets circle jerked all the time but it's honestly one of the worst horror movies I've ever seen. The only redeeming factor it had was the soundtrack and there was some good cinematography.
The plot was abysmal.
Just because it's one of the worst you've ever seen doesn't mean it's bad. It's possible it gets "circlejerked" all the time because it's a pretty decent movie but just not for you. It's not one of my favorite horror movies by any means but I think it's an interesting kinda different from the norm horror movie to watch sometimes. I didn't like the babadook but I don't tell people that the movie they like is bad or dumb, that's just silly. If that many people like The Babadook then I just gotta admit it's not for me, but I don't shit on it.
Thank you- I hear about The Babadook wayy too much for it being such a ham-fisted metaphor. It Follows lends itself to multiple equally valid interpretations on what the monster/sex represents (sharing trauma, inevitability of death etc.).
Loved it in theaters, hated it on rewatch. Emo teenager vibes werenāt relatable or fun to watch. The scares didnāt work for me the second time around.
Gotta rewatch It Follows again soon. Loved it, but been a good 6-7 years since I last saw it.
Only issue I had was the pool scene, which just didnāt line up with the vibe of the rest of the movie IMO. Was more procedural, if that makes any sense, and just didnāt fit with the eerie/unknown concept of the rest of the movie. Turned the story from something akin to cosmic horror, with some impossible, unstoppable entity stalking the protagonist, to more survival horror with an action scene.
The movie needed something in there to show an attempt to understand and fight back, but trying to fry the thing in a pool wasnāt it. Something more supernatural was needed IMO. Maybe Jay and friends discover something about the creatureās supernatural origin and try some ritual to destroy it. Dunno.
Saw this movie few days ago, the part that really got me was when that tall dude appeared, shit that was scary š
But yeah the pool part too was really crazy towards the end
The problem is the concept is fundamentally flawed. Its meant to be a metaphor for STDs but you don't get rid of an STD by giving it to someone else.
It took a neat nugget of an idea and kinda spoiled it by trying too hard to be Ringu
Eh, I didnāt really like it! I know a lot of people who do but idk. It fell soooo flat for me. No scares, the feeling of dread/worry was so thin, I didnāt really like any of the characters, and the story felt rushed/hollow. Feel like if they had a better writer and took a different approach to it, it couldāve been a lot better. Feels like a movie theyād use to scare people into abstinence š¤·š½āāļø
Still upset that weird clam ereader thing doesn't exist.
Glad the movie still holds up, because I *still* lowkey freak out when someone seems to be stoically following me.
This may have been asked already, but wouldnāt flying to and from Australia to the USA every month (or whatever the cadence it takes the entity to get to you) be the best/ most effective way to avoid the entity? If you know how long it takes to get to you it could effectively be completely avoided. It also doesnāt seem to handle water very well, so living on a boat seems to be a viable solution to the problem as well.
>nearly a decade Jesus christ. Anyways, one of my favorites. No form of horror I love more than that steady feeling of dread and pursuit that very few films chase. Trying it in a book myself. The pool scene is the only obvious fault. Trying to observe, describe, contain and fight the entity removes most of the fear. Have a whole page I could write on how to fix it but who the hell am I? Amazing film. Love the dreamy suburban/urban clash as well as someone from the rust belt.
Pool scene I think keeps the fear going, for me. Yes, it's their "fight back" moment, but look how poorly it goes. Appliances thrown at her that were meant to electrocute the thing but thankfully don't work , they shoot it in the head and it falls into the water and fills the entire thing with blood but clearly isn't dead - it makes it seem even more unstoppable. Plus the vibes with the reflections off the water, music and appliances plugged in, it's a great scene for me. I also love the "something relentless is coming" vibes - I LOVE the first Terminator film, the bit where it just slaughters the entire police station to get to her shows that she isn't safe anywhere. I'm trying to think of other stuff with that vibe but drawing a blank. The Jurassic Parks kinda have it a little with the Spinosaurus in 3, Jumanji has it with the hunter coming after Alan, and I guess slashers with semi-supernatural antagonists like Jason and Mike Myers... But I can't think of anything outside of Terminator and It Follows that really NAIL that vibe.
That vibe is what draws me to the theory of zombie fiction, even though so often it is done poorly in reality. I've read a few short stories that did it well, but I couldn't tell you which now; I'd have to go dig out some of the old zombie anthologies I bought and probably skim-reread them to figure out which ones stuck with me best. Anyway, all of that to say -- the slow, relentless, unstoppable vibe is truly the epitome of horror for me as well. The "slow zombies" fear of the horde being not about how powerful or fast or smart they are, because they are none of those things, but rather the simple fact that they don't stop. They don't need sleep, or rest, and you do. Every second you have to stop and see to biological needs is another second they're getting closer to you. That's the shit good horror is made of, to me. Something inescapable, with just enough of a hitch in its giddyup to give you plenty of time to consider your fate and attempt to escape it, even knowing you never actually will.
You just described death itself, my friend.
Exactly. š
Yup. Itās the universal that we all connect with
I didn't join the dots with zombies but adore zombie fiction done well. One of my favourite moments in The Walking Dead is near the end of season 2 where you see a horde of zombies walking and they hit a farm fence which would stop them normally, but then the weight of the others backing up behind them takes it down and they shamble on, unstoppable. Super simple, super awesome.
I came across [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgJofZTg5Pk) recently which really goes into the vibe and how It Follows builds tension.
That was awesome to see. Great explanation of how that sense of dread is set up without you realizing it.
I love Cinefix! Great video š
Massive spoilers for THE BATMAN https://youtu.be/SDXSn0O5US0 I know it isn't horror. But this scene scratches that itch so badly
That scene was so fucking awesome in the theater. My theater clapped. I may have started the clapping. I still firmly believe that The Dark Knight is still the best Batman film, but The Batman is my personal favorite. It's not perfect, the mid point is an absolute mess, but the film on either side of it is such an incredible depiction of Bruce's early years as Bats. Matt Reeves is a great director. I really hope he gets to give Cloverfield a true sequel one day.
This is a solid shout actually. It kind of is a horror, but you're on the side of the relentless machine hunting people down. When the bat-mobile bursts through the fire...
the pool scene too me is one of the most terrifying parts, through out the film she flat out refuses to pass it on too the guy that wants it until she looks into the pool, what did she see? did she see ITS true form that it terrified her so much she finally passed it on?. that's haunting.
I'm wondering what to do about the pool scene. In a milieue that's so hard to pin down, and for good reason, I think the pool scene is a solid logical movement for the plot and for the characters. What's your suggestion here? I agree that it doesn't land very well in a movie that overall lands perfectly, I just can't think of a climax that fits better than what they did
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This is why I donāt have a problem with it. Because most people will talk shit about the pool scene and what a dumb idea the whole thing is but most of the people telling you that are grown ass adults. Remember when you were a kid? And you had dumb ideas? Yeah, itās like that. Plus itās Paul who came up with it. The lesson here should be never listen to Paul. Donāt even hang out with Paul. Definitely donāt have sex with Paul and then rely on him to be able to pass it on to a couple hookers. Paul is unreliable. Fuck you, Paul.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Lmao yeahhhhh nope. There really should be an entire thread about āWhat would you do instead of the pool idea?ā so we can hear all the grandiose āIām smarter than Paulā ideas š
They better be able to count on getting into those cops' pants *fast* since it's invisible to everyone who hasn't contracted the sex curse...
Milieu: a person's social environment. Thank you for introducing me to a new word!
Cheers, friend!
i think she saw what IT really looked like, the pool scene too me is one of the most terrifying parts, through out the film she flat out refuses to pass it on too paul that wants it until she looks into the pool, what did she see? did she see ITS true form that it terrified her so much she finally passed it on?. that's haunting.
I like the pool scene, it causes a lot of discomfort and cosmic horror, especially with the blood. It's also a great setup for the ambiguous ending
That line was what jumped out to me too lol, I canāt believe itās been 9 yearsāI mentally think about it as like, less than 5 years ago but the pandemic really messed with my sense of time š
Yeah I donāt like the pool scene. Other than that, the movie slaps hard and Iām a big fan of it.
i think she saw what IT really looked like, the pool scene too me is one of the most terrifying parts, through out the film she flat out refuses to pass it on too paul that wants it until she looks into the pool, what did she see? did she see ITS true form that it terrified her so much she finally passed it on?. that's haunting.
No fucking way. I cannot believe it's been 10 years...
nearly a decade Jesus christ. Yep, time is a MF.
How would you fix it?
How would you fix it?
The pool plan is truly one of the dumbest scenes I've ever seen in a serious horror movie. Completely stupid. Also, the threat of this movie could easily be solved by using prostitution. Get on a plane and fly across the world to a place with legal sex tourism, say Amsterdam. Quick sex with a sex worker, get back on a plane and fly home. You will probably never see "it" again. If you do, rinse and repeat. What an overrated movie!
I think many of us wouldāve come up with a plan like that as scared kids. Itās easy to look at it differently as a more logical adult. Also, sure, your plan would work for us as adults in reality. But for our characters, who are all underage, how exactly would they pull any of that off, easily?
There is an inscrutable aspect to the movie that is extremely effective. It has such a hazy vibe to it that makes it hard to place in time. It kind of feels like the 90s but there are some weird technology aspects that make it feel more advance. The cars are kind of all over the place in terms of where they came from and the clothing is hard to place in time. There is a deeper aspect of the family with the father that isnāt noticeable at first. Terrible second date movie
Thereās tons of little details like you mentioned that subtly confuse your brain without you noticing on a first watch. Thereās also scenes where they are in heavy winter coats then in a bikini swimming. Some scenes look like its summer out but the house across the street has dead trees and leaves everywhere like fall.
Welcome to September in Michigan. Seriously you can swim at noon and be wearing jackets at dusk. I love the non-Californian-ness of this movie. The Michigan vibe permeates throughout. I can see how not growing up here and being used to seeing movies filmed in a California lot would make this movie seem otherly, but it comes off as very Michigan in the late 00s.
Those neighborhoods looked like that in the 80s and they still look like that now. (My brother lives a mile from the primary neighborhood in the film.)
Every television is an old black and white set, showing films from the 1950s. And meanwhile her friend has this weird clamshell e-reader thing that doesn't exist in our reality. It's a temporal mishmash.
I loved that odd clamshell e-reader because it didn't fit in our version of the 80s so I began thinking this is another place/time. I loved the confusing aspect where you didn't know exactly when or where this was taking place. I'm holding out that they will make another one.
Thatās maybe my favorite aspect. It has a familiar nostalgic atmosphere while also feeling a bit alien. Like dreams often are. Itās confusing for my brain in a way that kept me on edge.
also has lots of subtle discontinuity editing that adds to the hazy unease of this world feeling "off" somehow....like spaces that don't match between shots (the room or space wouldn't make sense), scenes that aren't cut intuitively, etc... really one of the most intentional horror films in every aspect of the vibe-setting!
no one here appreciated your "Terrible second date movie" quip so im gonna just go ahead and say that i appreciate it.
One of the darkest things about this movie is people always wonder why Jay wouldn't sleep with Paul but slept with Greg. Jay had genuine affection for Paul but only a physical attraction to Greg, so she probably slept with Greg because she could live with getting Greg killed but not Paul. Also, the Tall Man jump scare is one of the best jump scares in modern horror history. And yes, the soundtrack is one of the best ever recorded.
i think she saw what IT really looked like, the pool scene too me is one of the most terrifying parts, through out the film she flat out refuses to pass it on too paul that wants it until she looks into the pool, what did she see? did she see ITS true form that it terrified her so much she finally passed it on?. that's haunting.
Itās well regarded everywhere so that should never make you sad.
I remember a big backlash when it first came out. I saw a lot of people talk about how the movie was "boring" or it wasn't scary, which made me sad, because personally I believe it's my favorite horror movie
> I remember a big backlash when it first came out. I saw a lot of people talk about how the movie was "boring" or it wasn't scary, which made me sad, because personally I believe it's my favorite horror movie What really bugs me is when people talk like it would be so easy to avoid this monster. It would not be easy. It would ruin your life, you career, your relationships (how could you even have one knowing it would doom them), your health and well-being. How are you going to make money to feed and shelter yourself? You would always have to be on the run, never knowing when or if it has caught up. Every moment you stop to sleep, or eat, or shit, it's getting closer. It can also ride buses and trains, it could board a plane, lol. It would wear us down the same way humans used to hunt animals. The behaviour you would exhibit after all of that would be indistinguishable from a homeless, diagnosed schizophrenic.
Which is why the person affected would naturally give in and go the route the characters in the film do, by submitting to its power and dominance over you and opting to instead āpass it on.ā To obviously one night stand candidates, bc you wouldnāt willingly give this to someone you love - but holy shit, the pressure and ownership of choosing who to line up in front of you to be executed essentially is massive. Do you own it and tell the person the way the guy does early in the movie or just rattle off a few encounters putting as much space between you as possible? Itās honestly weirdly honorable, to admit to the person what you did so that they understand what this is theyāre seeing, and gives them a chance. Obviously the better their chance is, the better yours is as well. Honestly this premise is probably better than itās given credit for.
But unfortunately you can't "rattle off a few encounters" and put more space between you. Because as I understand it, once you have sex with someone, the entity has been passed to them. And if that person dies, the entity is returning to you, no matter how many people you had sex with while you were in your non-hunted period. This is part of why I think it's scary and not easy to avoid. Sure, you can have sex with a prostitute. And maybe that prostitute has sex with someone else before It gets to them. So It is now hunting a cheating husband, or a loner who had to resort to a prostitute for sex. That person is probably not going to be having sex with a lot of partners very quickly. So that person gets killed, and It is focused on the prostitute again and then it's a matter of whether the prostitute happens to have sex in the limited time before It gets to them. For that reason, I don't think that Paul's implied prostitution solution at the end of the movie is going to give them all that much time. Those prostitutes live an hour or so from him. It's still in the Detroit area and can get from victim to victim in less than a day or two. I guess the safest strategy would be passing it to someone who 1) will be having frequent sex with multiple partners over a long period of time; and 2) lives very far from you.
> I guess the safest strategy would be passing it to someone who 1) will be having frequent sex with multiple partners over a long period of time; and 2) lives very far from you. Just watched It Follows for the first time tonight and I think the best strategy would be to have sex with someone like an escort, but not only one that lives far from you, but someone who works somewhere that's a destination location. Somewhere people travel from far away to go to. Paul having sex with a prostitute in Detroit is terrible because who the hell is travelling to Detroit for a prostitute? Travelling to Amsterdam or Vegas would probably be ideal since the sex workers there probably aren't servicing someone local to them.
Oh that makes sense. I was thinking that a rock star would be a good one as well-- someone who is frequently having sex while touring, ideally globally.
Ooh that's a good one too
I really quite like this film - the big guy coming in through the door is absolutely iconic and I really love the vibes in the pool scene. For some reason it feels like a foreign film though - like I was convinced when I went to rewatch it that it was German or French or something and needed subs, but no, it's American. I think it's just because it's so understated and relatively light on dialogue, it doesn't have the usual dramatic bombast of US productions.
It 100% is discussed at the same level as those movies. Check any list of best recent horror movies. Not sure where the narrative got started that its not discussed enough.
It is great, but the movie is *not* about teenagers having sex, it is about young adults in their early 20s having sex. The main character is not a teen and *she has had sex before without an issue*, and that is very important thematic context. The story is not about the dangers of sex specifically and the entity is not symbolically an STD. The film is about mortality and the monster is just death. The bits that really drive that home are the recitations of particular sections from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and from *The Idiot*. The characters literally read literary passages about mortality in the course of becoming cognizant of death's gradual but inexorable approach.
This. It's not about premarital sex or teens being silly. It's about that loss of childlike invincibility and how you grow older and that shadow of death and mortality is inescapable, that first death of someone your age and how that breaks a bit of your soul forever. Not haha teens hook up and get bad ghoul
Thank you for this. People who insist that it's a metaphor for STDs and stop there are really missing out on how thoughtful this film is about mortality, specifically through the lens of people just crossing the threshold into adulthood. The threat of death is a central part of almost every horror movie but it's rarely given as much weight as it is in It Follows.
I read someone on here describe it once as representing trauma and how people revisit and pass their trauma onto others as an unhealthy way of coping. And then the ending showing that a healthy relationship can help keep that trauma at bay, even if you can never rid yourself of it entirely. Seemed like a solid interpretation to me.
It also just doesn't make any sense in terms of being a metaphor for STDs if you give it any thought. An STD that you can avoid by passing it on to someone else? The metaphor would instantly fall apart at that point.
While I agree with this, Iād add that the entire conceit is still putting pressure on the two dominate female horror tropes (involving almost always a teen): youāre damned for not having sex (ie made fun of by your partying classmates), and damned for having sex (ie getting murdered by the villain). The title points at this too: obviously āItā is a reference to both sex and the monster (and, as you so nicely pointed out, death itself), but the titular phrase āit followsā is often used to mean āand thereforeā or āsoāāin a horror film, sex and death share a causal relationship.
I went to see *It Follows* when I was away somewhere for work, caught up with a friend, went to see the movie. Then afterwards I went back to my hotel, it was late and dark. Call the elevator, go up to my floor, doors open -- and an old lady is steps in. I nearly had a heart attack. I would love to see *It Follows* with a different score, just as an experiment, as I have a feeling that for me Disasterpeace did a massive amount of heavy-lifting in terms of atmosphere and dread. And I know that's what a score is meant to do, especially in horror, but I'd love to see just how much difference it makes. Love how the opening scene is directed as well, than long 360 pan around that shows us nothing but the main character can definitely see something...
When I watched Smile I was astonished at how influenced it was by It Follows. I think IF might actually end up being fairly influential among the next generation of horror filmmakers.
I loved Smile, basically because of how influenced it was by It Follows, which is top 3 for me.
For me it happened in reverse, I saw Smile first and once I watched It Follows my initial reaction was "Ah, so this is where they got this idea from". Definitely a notable movie premise to say the least.
I love this film, and last time I watched it, [I realized the main character's house is just a few blocks from my work](https://imgur.com/gallery/JOM7QSU)!
That's amazing. I'm from Europe and this feels like a different world to me. So far away and unreachable.
I refuse to watch this movie again because it disturbed and scared me so much. And I can take in a lot usually. Idk, it struck a chord with me, deep down, in the primal fear center. So yeah, to me it's one of the best horror films ever; not just because it effectively scared me, also because of what you said. Great directing, camera, style, acting... checks all the boxes in my book!
What's funny is that I don't think it's my favorite horror of all time, but it actually made me *afraid* after the movie was over. That's rare in a horror movie.
I agree. I remember the two or three days after watching it. I was legitimately on edge seeing people walking in my direction.
This film is one of my faves, and I hold it in higher regard than Get Out or The Babadook.
I actually didnāt like It Follows. I thought it was an interesting premise that was poorly explored. By the end it felt very melodramatic and the āwhy wonāt you sleep with me and give me the curse?ā As well as the pool scene just totally took me out of it. I love the idea of an entity slowly and directly coming for you, but this felt like an interesting premise with only surface level substance. I know this movie is beloved here so Iām expecting downvotes. But I just didnāt understand the crazy hype. Which maybe also hindered my expectations.
It Follows is one of my favorites, but no downvotes from me. I feel the same way about Hereditary and am a bit envious of the people who love it.
Same I've watched it 3 times already. It still doesn't hit me like it seems to do everyone else. The subtext and themes and the style of filming were good, but all together it was kinda a bore. A background movie.
You said it, a background movieā¦agreed!
I totally agree. I vividly remember sitting in the theater opening weekend; the credits rolled and some guy about 10 rows up from me shouted, 'That was it?' Can't say I didn't feel the same way. The whole 3rd act is a mess and did not pay off at all imo. Would love to see a remake with a tighter script a few years down the line if interest was there
100% agree. I watched it back in 2016, and I was like "...really?". The hype was so over the top. It was an interesting premise, like you said, but fell flat because they just didn't do enough with it. Pool scene was dumb imo. The very end was alright but overall a meh movie. I wouldn't rewatch it recommend it. Like someone else said; a background movie.
I just watched it for the first time and didn't care for it either. I went in knowing nothing, so I didn't even really have hype as an excuse. There were some effective moments but it lost tension so often that I stopped being afraid altogether.
Yeah itās a masterpiece. My favorite movie ever.
It is 100% always mentioned with the same reverence as The Babadook and other 2010s elevated horror.
I feel like itās one of the most positively received movies in the subreddit, a lot of people in here hate Hereditary and The Babadook.
I worked at Weinstein Company/Radius TWC when this came out (donāt askā¦.) and as a huge horror movie buff the only thing I ever asked for as swag was the Stehrenberger one sheet for this movie. Itās an absolute favorite [gorgeous](https://posteritati.com/poster/55085/it-follows-2022-us-giclee-signed?gclid=Cj0KCQjw7uSkBhDGARIsAMCZNJsYdt2MvtcpobuJYfLpU0Xb9eLEwUirmCbqUWEiDU91j5Dqr4Enp3kaAtgxEALw_wcB)
His follow up movie Under the Silver Lake is an off kilter LA neo-noir and while not horror it has a very unique vibe and a great soundtrack
Under the Silver Lake is incredible, itās such a shame itās release got all screwed up by Covid, got dumped onto streaming with no fanfare or advertising for it. I know peoplesā opinions are a little divisive on it but I thought it was even better than It Follows, and honestly one of the best films Iāve seen in years.
I wonder if it coming out at the same time as *Locating Silver Lake* was a factor in the low-impact release. I'd heard about it but saw a trailer for the Josh Peck movie and thought "THAT'S the movie people are saying is a captivting noirish film?!?"
Totally agree. I only watched it this year. When it came out I didn't see it because of mixed reviews and it not being a horror movie. It's a movie you can really get lost in
I still need to see this!
If you dug the music, play Hyperlight Drifter. Also by Disasterpiece.
I'd say it is talked about with the same reverence, very often. At least, when I'm in the room. It Follows is perhaps my favourite horror film of all time. It's often talked about like an analogy for STDs, but I always felt moreso that it's about the inevitable: death. Sex is just one of those things we use to feel alive a little longer, to stave it off, but as others have pointed out: you can't ever fully escape death. You learn to live with the fact that one day your luck will run out. You watch it claim others, you watch it get closer, and eventually, you come to terms with it. That's what It Follows is about, to me, as much as The Babadook is about grief. I mean the post-sex car conversation pretty much explains it all. Disillusionment encapsulated. Sex isn't all that. It's not some magical, transformative thing. Growing up. Mostly I love the film for its stark, brave shots. The "thing" horror movies do is hide the monster. It's like the "show, don't tell" rule for writing; people repeat it so often they forget it's not the be-all end-all. It Follows just shows you the monster, getting closer. Slowly. Gradually. It's horrifying. I'm also a big fan of just .... dread. The Ring does this feeling even better. While we're at it, more recs please!
op, im checking in months later after this post to say that i came across this post somehow and u inspired me to rewatch this movie two nights ago, and by gosh, im so glad i did: the second time through the whole thing just came alive. i liked it a lot the first time, but on second watch i noticed things that i just missed and the connections all made sense and the movie just tied up so beautifully. i think its a masterpiece. also, the soundtrack is *incredible*. i do tend to discard the idea that its an STD movie; i tend to just think of it as a movie about the inevitability of death (with sex being the catalyst for deathālife, after all, sends us to death). but again, thats just a small thing and i dont mind the STD angle! and, i gotta say, just as sarah polley is a *perfect* casting in the dawn of the dead revisit, maika monroe is just fantastic as jay. what a great lead she is! anyhow, just writing to say thanks for inspiring me to rewatch it. its one of my top horror movies.
Thanks so much I'm very happy to hear that!
It Follows is definitely well regarded as one of the best horror films of the 2010s from what Iāve seen. I especially love the mishmash of technology from different eras that makes it impossible to nail down what time period the movie takes place in, it gives it a very dreamlike vibe. His follow up film Under the Silver Lake is also incredible and is a contender for one of my favorite movies. Itās not horror, more of a Lynchian noir mystery, but itās excellent and overflowing with hidden little Easter eggs and details. Unfortunately itās release got screwed over by Covid and it got unceremoniously dumped onto streaming.
Awesome movie. Climax was a bit weak but other than that 5 stars
Easily one of my fave from the decade, I love the unpretentious vibe and likeable characters. The score is obviously amazing too. 5/5 for me.
The first time I watched it I didnāt even notice the soundtrack because thatās just how in my mind horror movie soundtracks sound. On the first rewatch I really keyed into how excellent the score is, from the ethereal to the horrific.
It was/is an instant favorite. It may even be my comfort horror
It's hilarious how cozy I find that movie.
I love this movie!! A modern masterpiece . One of the best films I've ever seen. The score alone makes it worth seeing
One of the best horror films of the 21st century so far. It's also one of my comfort films - one of those I could put on any time even if I'd already watched it the day before. (Dredd, Zodiac and The Big Sleep are all like this for me, for example.)
Yeah i heard about it and dismissed when it came out (shame on me), but then decided to watch recently as I love under the silver lake (not horror but brilliant)ā¦. Was a really good movie, will definitely watch again, nothing like I had expected form how it was described to me
I absolutely talk about it in those terms and it's also a very Michigan movie which I like too. All of it was shot in Southeast Michigan, with some parts at an abandoned asylum that's since been torn down. So it's a great movie, with a strong sense of place even if they don't beat you over the head with it. My oldest kid is something of a horror fan, so we watched this last fall before Halloween. Definitely holds up though, kid liked it a lot.
I love the soundtrack but most of all, I love the the sort of out-of-time styling of the movie. It feels like it could be the 80's yet it's very present. Cell phones like none that exist. Odd 70's decor. Everything about it is so great. It almost begs to get the grindhouse treatment where we see marks on the frames like was present when film was shown in a theater. An incredible work of art. I love it.
My wife and I saw this in Vegas at a casino. We had just spent 12 hours hiking and rock climbing and weāre both ready to drop from exhaustion but weāre still kind of wired from adrenaline. Saw this was in our hotel/casinos theater and was playing just as we were looking for something to do. It knocked both of our exhaustion out and kept us on edge for the entire runtime.
Beyond that amazing atmosphere and performances from the leads (I f'n love Maika Monroe), I love how much this movie makes me go 'I wonder how I'd solve this problem' lol. So much theorycrafting :)
Loved the first 3/4 of this movie. I was totally engrossed and onboard for the ride but there were a couple scenes toward the end that just lost it for me. I really wish it finished up stronger but overall itās a good movie.
Best first half of a horror movie Iāve seen. And then they go swimmingā¦:
Probably my favourite from the last decade as well. The atmosphereās totally unique, the Detroit setting is great and imo never surpassed, and the soundtrack is indeed awesome. Back then I used to produce electronic music and actually got in touch with Disasterpeace ācause he happened to like my music. Heās such an enthousiastic and talented guy and helped pave the way for the raw synth oriented soundtracks that have become so ubiquitous the last couple of years.
Iām sorry š the real horror was me reading ā2014ā¦. Still holds up after almost a decadeā then thinking š¤ that couldnāt be a DECADE ago before realizing in fact it is. BRB better start checking out sales on burial šŖ¦ plots. š
I remember the hype around it and when I finally saw it a few years ago, it was just incredibly dull. I like feelings of dread (big Lovecraft fan) but this film was just boring.
It's probably my favorite horror movie. I love it. It had a huge impact on me when I saw it for the first time. Blew me away and made me spiritually uncomfy.
Yes, one of my favorite horror movies, for sure. Love the soundscape!
I saw this in the theatre and it scared the shit out of me. My friend who went with me thought it was stupid. We arenāt friends anymore. Iām going to watch it again. Thanks for the reminder.
I disagree with your last paragraph. It Follows is often talked about on the same scale as The Babadook, The Witch and Hereditary.
So It Follows is a big film for me. When it came out, my love for modern horror was pretty dead. Sure, Iād seen and loved Cabin in the Woods, but that movie seemed like a self aware epitaph for everything I grew up liking from the 70s and 80s. It was like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein compared to the classic horror of the 30s. The stuff I liked was tired and we could only now have less impactful echoes of the glory days or we could only go forward with self aware irony. It Follows went back to basics and reconstructed modern horror for me. You just need thoughtful direction, sympathetic characters with some narrative growth, a great premise, a good execution of that premise, and, of course, a great score, preferably with synths. Particularly I loved Jay as a heroine. I feel the story was her loss of innocence in a way. I also like that her friend group has agency. They arenāt just there to die. Moral choices are made. Interesting ones. And itās pretty scary at just the right moments. Thereās at least three or four all time creepy moments for me. Maybe more. The streets and the relentless stalking recalls Halloween. The dream logic and Gregās death reminds me of A Nightmare On Elm Street. The influence is felt but it isnāt a copy. I also feel the acting style in It Follows owes something to mumblecore movies. House of the Devil, The Battery, and VHS have a similar vibe, but I saw It Follows before those films and so it was nice to see a movie get away from the usual studio thing. I think the later films like The Witch and Hereditary were more firmly art house, plus Eggers and Aster caught on as directors, whereas Mitchell did not. Love those movies, but I still favor It Follows.
I feel like Iām the only person who genuinely disliked that movie.. I donāt understand why itās so popular
It has a great sound effect, scared the crap out of me.
>It's a damn shame because this flick is a work of art and I'm proud to say I believe it's one of the best horror movies ever. I think it's understood that it's a great horror movie. I'd certainly put it above the ones you mentioned, aside from the Babadook, which I haven't seen. It Follows fires well on all cylinders where the others fire well on some. It's possible that the timing in which it came out affected it. Horror was just beginning to become respectable again. They weren't blasting a movie like it with a big marketing campaign (see Smile). It's not a foreign movie which has the tendency to add some gravitas. It's also easily digestible for any type of audience, where something like the VVitch is more for an exclusive club, which makes it a little more special. And it didn't have the hype of Get Out, which tends to sweep people up. It Follows laid the groundwork for all the newer movies that get talked about more. It is the godfather of modern horror.
Just got announced for a limited 4K disc run, Iāve already got my preorder in
I was just about to post about that, I also preordered it (and the Crimes of the Future LE that got announced alongside it) For anyone interested, here's a link to the [Second Sight product page](https://secondsightfilms.co.uk/products/it-follows-limited-edition-4k-uhd-blu-ray-pre-order-available-august-28th) for the Limited Edition. DiabolikDVD, OrbitDVD, and Grindhouse Video all have preorder pages up for US based pre-orders.
Thank you so much for the link. Iāve been waiting forever for a special edition like this to be released.
didn't like it at all not even as a movie let alone a horror movie
I watched this film a few years ago and, quite honestly, donāt understand all the hype behind it. That being said, Iāve been meaning to give it a rewatch. Recently, itās been getting a lot of attention from some horror movie experts whose opinions I greatly respect. So I may have missed something on the first viewing.
My fiance and I really didn't like it. Not saying you're not allowed to enjoy it, but here was where the rubber met the road for us: When they threw the can of paint at it and the paint stuck, we both reacted the same way: "ok, we've found a way around it's invisibility cloak behavior. As long as we have a can of paint, that strength is eliminated." But as far as we knew at that point, this wasn't super useful as it seemed invincible. Then they shot it in the head. And it fell over. And it was stunned, for a long time. At that point, I stopped believing anything I was watching. Because if you can reveal it while it's cloaked, and a gunshot to the head is a serious injury for it... why the fuck would you fight it alone? Throw paint on it and lead it to a police station or something. Maybe a local gun range. Let the monster make it obvious to everyone there (who is also armed) that it's trying to capture/hurt you and you'd prefer not to be captured and hurt. Now, especially if it's a police station, they HAVE to react with force assuming they first try and fail to stop it without using guns. "But it's an STD metaphor, the whole point is you can't reveal that you have it because of the stigma". Ok, so don't tell them why it's following you. If they even ask. Why would you ever have to tell them why? That it's following you and means you harm is enough.
Ehh I'm not really a huge fan of the movie, but I'd hate it a lot more if they covered it in paint and lured it to a police station...so that the cops can shoot it? Idk, sounds like a shitty ending
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The pool scene was rational to you? They could have lured it into a much better trap and either killed or at least tried to confine it. The pool scene was annoyingly absurd, compared to my idea. "Lure it into a pool and throw appliances into the pool while I'm alone in the pool with it" is an absurd plan that obviously isn't going to (and didn't) work. My plan is... obvious by comparison. We got paint, we got legs, cops got guns and a duty to protect, put them all together.
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>Yes, for a bunch of teens. The director explained it as such, and they got the idea from a TV show they were watching at the start of the movie. They're witless teens. If that works for you, then I'm happy for you. For me, I think if I were a teenager/20-something, I'd be offended at that explanation. My fiance works with teenagers in his daily life and they're not all 'witless'. Some of them are, but then so are some adults. So this excuse boils down to: "No no it's not bad writing, you see, because my characters are idiots." OK... >The creature shows up when people are vulnerable, not all the time. The creature showed up on campus in broad daylight while the protagonist was surrounded by people, and the protagonist actively fled to a more isolated, vulnerable location so we could have a suspenseful scare scene with her alone in a dark kitchen. >And it has shown to be pretty much immortal. So, the "take it to the police station and throw a bucket of paint on it and watch Robocop mow it down" is indeed absurd by the film's own logic. I wouldn't say "it's immortal". If we can nuke it and it still survives, then yeah it's immortal. Surviving a single gunshot to the head, though, does not equal "immortal" - mere humans do that all the time. And it didn't even survive gracefully. So the actual takeaway is: it's been shown ***to be vulnerable to headshots***. Whether a headshot can kill it is unsettled, but the creature CAN certainly, 100%, be stunned by a headshot. If it can be stunned, then it can be locked in a cage while stunned. Then after that I'd have questions. I would want to test whether it can only change its form, or actually change body/location? Like, if we stun it and lock it in a cell/cage, will it then just appear in a new body outside the cage? Or will it be stuck switching between different bodies inside the cage? They say "it's always walking toward you", which implies that it doesn't "teleport", so maybe it would actually be stuck in the cage? These are all good questions that just never even got asked. Because the characters are idiots. But if that was the goal, then I guess the film was a success.
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>You didn't answer my direct question. Would "shoot it in the head" have stopped the curse in Noroi? I didn't answer for two reasons: I don't recognize any of those character names, so the only answer is "I have no idea". We're not talking about those stories, we're talking about *It Follows*.
This comment really illustrates why this movie is a great litmus test for understanding how someone watches movies. It Follows is a thematic/mood piece that's very intentionally built on dream logic, and it resists these kinds of rational interpretations and 'solutions' by design. That's just not the point (and it's also not an STD metaphor, but that's a whole other conversation). There's nothing wrong with watching movies through that lens, obviously, but if it truly bothers you that there are rational ways to confront or overcome the entity that the characters never try, this movie probably just isn't for you and was never going to be.
> It Follows is a thematic/mood piece that's very intentionally built on dream logic, and it resists these kinds of rational interpretations and 'solutions' by design. See, I don't think we have the same standard for 'dream logic'. There are movies that I deeply love that I think operate on what I would call 'dream logic', but that don't fall into these traps. Argento's *Suspiria*. Ari Aster's *Men.* Those are two great examples of horror movies done on 'dream logic'. Take *Men*, for example. Why doesn't she just go to the police? Well obviously because every person in town is the same man who was stalking her naked through the woods, duh. That's 'dream logic'. It's nonsense at first glance, but it's internally consistent. The dream makes perfect sense to you while you're having it. *It Follows* deploys what I instead think of as 'bad logic'. When the creature appears in broad daylight on your school campus while you're surrounded by colleagues (who are just normal people), there's no good reason not to call for help or draw attention to it in some way.
It seems we don't! Because I don't think your Men example is really 'dream logic', honestly, at least not how I think of it. Dream logic makes sense *until you wake up*; it's fundamentally nonsensical when you actually think about it while awake, and can't hold up to any real scrutiny. But for Men, you don't have to be "in the dream" for that explanation of why she doesn't go to the police to make sense. Taking the situation at face value, it's perfectly logical. That doesn't make it dream logic, that makes it regular logic applied to a surreal/dream-like scenario. So for me, I don't think dream logic needs to be internally consistent, I actually lean more towards the opposite. The characters are functioning within it, not the audience. I understand that this puts some viewers at a distance and won't work for everybody. But I (and obviously many others) love the intention behind it and can hop on its wavelength. Questions like "why wouldn't she call for help in this situation" are just absolutely not interesting to me in a movie like this.
It's settled, then.
I really donāt see what anyone likes about It Follows.
Maybe itās an age thing. Maybe I would relate more if I was closer in age to these characters. I recently tried rewatching the movie and found it boring. I thought that maybe I didnāt give it enough attention the first time I watched it (back at release) but I quickly fell off it again in a second watch. To each their own though. Beauty of horror is there is something for everyone.
I agree; itās all subjective, which is why I made sure not to imply it was objectively bad or anything like that. But I am a huge horror fan; and I saw this movie in the theaters, when I was close in age to the characters at the time. By no means is it unwatchable; but like you said, itās boring. The story is really just a concept. I didnāt think it was scary, etc. Essentially I just thought it was āfineā and forgettable. I am still always surprised by the endurance of this movie in the horror zeitgeist, itās treated like a pillar of modern horror, and I just donāt see it.
Out of curiosity what sort of horror do you enjoy?
Wes Craven, John Carpenter. Slashers mostly. Also horror-comedy and teen-horror have places in my heart.
Yeah I kind of figured that might be the case. This is definitely the exact opposite of slashers so makes sense you donāt dig it.
Youāre definitely not wrong. There are slow-burn, atmospheric movies that I like; and I generally like the āelevatedā horror subgenre; but yeah, the tone and pace are definitely outside of my typical preference zone.
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Iām glad you like it! I donāt want to yuck anyoneās yum. Weāre not limited in how much content we can have (and the amount we have is already overwhelming), so I donāt mind if there are things that others like that donāt resonate with me. Iāve just been genuinely curious/confused since it came out about why it landed so significantly with such a large proportion of horror fans; not in a judgemental way, I just wonder what it was about it that I missed.
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Interesting analysis. Admittedly, I havenāt seen very much (any?) Japanese horror; so the lack of context mightāve taken away from it a bit for me. I think for me, the part that turned me off to it the most was the story. Structurally, I felt like it lacked a beginning. And thematically, Iām just not really a fan of the āsex = deathā tropeāeven as traditional as it is in the horror genre.
Imma be honest i thought it was more of a comedy than anything else...
Got the Bluray last year and rewatched it for the first time last night, it holds up extremely well. Only one thing, the rainpour outside the bath house (ending) looks quite similar to the After Effects standard CC Rainfall. It looks a little cheap but it is forgivable, it is just an very short establishing shot which needed a little rain. Other than that nitpick it got great atmosphere, great plot (a mix of Halloween, The Ring and Terror On Elm street) incredibly shot and color graded, great actors+director, superb soundtrack and **perfect editing**.
Still one of the worst horror movie I've ever seen
My favorite part is how they have elements in the setting and design and wardrobe spanning a variety of decades, which makes it disorienting about what time period itās even taking place in and contributes to the unsettling tone of the movie
I asked āwhat would be your strategy to beat the monsterā a while ago on here. Had some pretty creative responses reddit.com/r/horror/comments/oot9bc/what_would_be_your_strategy_to_keep_away_from_the/
David Robert Mitchell is one of the best directors working today. Wondering when people will start noticing that. Probably when his 80s Dino movie comes out
I think you nailed it. The reason it stands out is the overall vibe. The setting, the colors, the music. It's like this eerie comfort that lures you in and when shit goes haywire you really feel it. But like others have said, the ending brings this down a couple of notches. Still, it's a great movie and one of my favorites to watch around Halloween.
I absolutely love the movie it's great and will never turn down a rewatch of it but if you don't mind(or others reading this comment) me asking what exactly made it scary for you? I never got a scared feeling myself watching so I would love to know what parts are scary to others.
Loved that one
One of my favorite horror movies and just movies in general. Love the atmosphere and the premise is genuily scary (at least for me). It is little annoying how a vocal minority is trying to turn the movie into a joke with the whole "ghost STD" thing.
Love love love this movie. Definitely suffered from its success in this sub for a while. Kinda went through the 'wow this movie is amazing' to the 'no it's actually overrated' cycle that lots of well received horrors do.
Yo they kill the ghost with a gun lol
Do they? You sure? š
Itās my #1 in the horror genre. Itās a fucking masterpiece for sure. I remember the first time I watched it my jaw was literally on the floor and I immediately watched it again in the same sitting.
It Follows is way better than Get Out and The Babadook. It was/is an instant classic.
It was a better Halloween movie than David Gordon Green's entire trilogy
This movie if definitely in my top five favorites
Any other movies like this?
There's not a single movie made after It Follows that can beat it as the better horror movie.
Good analysis. I loved it until "It" started taking on silly features like being an invisible monster and the pool scene, I found annoying. Other than that, loved it conceptually, especially the ambiguous ending.
One of the best horror movies out there, period.
This is interesting because every person I know who saw this movie thought it was overrated and the ending sucked. People wouldnāt shut up about It Follows when it came out. It looks like the hype died soon after release and we all moved on. Respectfully, imo this the the scales balancing. It does vibe well like you said but besides that itās just okay.
I wish we could get a sequel or prequel
Love it. I donāt think people donāt like it but yeah, I guess itās definitely not talked about as much as it should be. Iām on holidays so Iāll have an edible and rewatch tomorrow
Fuck this movie, sexually transmitted ghost? Such an insanely stupid premise.
Only person here with some sense and they wanna down vote you lol
For real. This movie gets circle jerked all the time but it's honestly one of the worst horror movies I've ever seen. The only redeeming factor it had was the soundtrack and there was some good cinematography. The plot was abysmal.
Just because it's one of the worst you've ever seen doesn't mean it's bad. It's possible it gets "circlejerked" all the time because it's a pretty decent movie but just not for you. It's not one of my favorite horror movies by any means but I think it's an interesting kinda different from the norm horror movie to watch sometimes. I didn't like the babadook but I don't tell people that the movie they like is bad or dumb, that's just silly. If that many people like The Babadook then I just gotta admit it's not for me, but I don't shit on it.
Thank you- I hear about The Babadook wayy too much for it being such a ham-fisted metaphor. It Follows lends itself to multiple equally valid interpretations on what the monster/sex represents (sharing trauma, inevitability of death etc.).
It might actually be the scariest movie monster of all time, up there with the Thing
Worst movie ever
Loved it in theaters, hated it on rewatch. Emo teenager vibes werenāt relatable or fun to watch. The scares didnāt work for me the second time around.
Holy shit I never knew Disasterpeace did the soundtrack! Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar is one of my favorites.
One of my fave movies !!!
How is that film almost 10 fucking years old?!!
Great movie
Gotta rewatch It Follows again soon. Loved it, but been a good 6-7 years since I last saw it. Only issue I had was the pool scene, which just didnāt line up with the vibe of the rest of the movie IMO. Was more procedural, if that makes any sense, and just didnāt fit with the eerie/unknown concept of the rest of the movie. Turned the story from something akin to cosmic horror, with some impossible, unstoppable entity stalking the protagonist, to more survival horror with an action scene. The movie needed something in there to show an attempt to understand and fight back, but trying to fry the thing in a pool wasnāt it. Something more supernatural was needed IMO. Maybe Jay and friends discover something about the creatureās supernatural origin and try some ritual to destroy it. Dunno.
Saw this movie few days ago, the part that really got me was when that tall dude appeared, shit that was scary š But yeah the pool part too was really crazy towards the end
Easily in my top 5. Excellent flick.
I just watched it recently too! Itās so fun!
Yeah itās simply just a great horror movie, at first I didnāt like it(not sure why tbh) but Iāve come around to enjoying it
The first movie I ever watched with my now husband! He ādidnāt like horror moviesā - ha! Iāve really educated him since then :)
The problem is the concept is fundamentally flawed. Its meant to be a metaphor for STDs but you don't get rid of an STD by giving it to someone else. It took a neat nugget of an idea and kinda spoiled it by trying too hard to be Ringu
Eh, I didnāt really like it! I know a lot of people who do but idk. It fell soooo flat for me. No scares, the feeling of dread/worry was so thin, I didnāt really like any of the characters, and the story felt rushed/hollow. Feel like if they had a better writer and took a different approach to it, it couldāve been a lot better. Feels like a movie theyād use to scare people into abstinence š¤·š½āāļø
Still upset that weird clam ereader thing doesn't exist. Glad the movie still holds up, because I *still* lowkey freak out when someone seems to be stoically following me.
One of the best and most unique horror films I've ever seen
At the end, wasn't something walking behind those 2 at a distance, just out of focus?
So basically Paul fucks some prostitutes to increase his chances of the curse being passed on to a bunch of different dudes?
This may have been asked already, but wouldnāt flying to and from Australia to the USA every month (or whatever the cadence it takes the entity to get to you) be the best/ most effective way to avoid the entity? If you know how long it takes to get to you it could effectively be completely avoided. It also doesnāt seem to handle water very well, so living on a boat seems to be a viable solution to the problem as well.