It Follows - review

Now and again, a horror film comes along with a central concept that is so simple yet so devilishly brilliant that you'll be kicking yourself for not thinking of it first.

In It Follows sexually promiscuous teenagers are stalked by a mysterious figure who slowly walks towards them. They can run, they can hide but it will always find them and like the curse in Ringu the only way to get rid of it is to pass it on to someone else through sexual intercourse.

That's right, It Follows not only refers to the 'It' that follows the victims to their deaths but also it can refer to the world's most persistent STD that not amount of pills or creams will be able to treat!

The modus operandi of the film's monster is one of the best in recent years, arguably the best since the Weeping Angels in the Blink episode of Doctor Who.

The film's tagline is "It doesn't feel. It doesn't think. It doesn't give up." and reminded me of Kyle Reese's warning in The Terminator: "Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."

The way that 'It' slowly and silently stalks its prey (along with a retro synth score that has also featured to great effect in recent horrors like Maniac, The Guest and Cold In July) brings to mind the infamous 'The Shape' aka Michael Myers in John Carpenter's seminal Halloween.

Not only that but the leafy suburban setting of the film is reminiscent of Haddonfield and Carpenter's horror was one of the first to look at the correlation between sex and death, with those who indulged in pre-marital relations being punished for it by being brutally murdered.

Indeed following on from last year's excellent The Guest, Maika Monroe is in a prime position to become this generation's "Scream Queen".

Writer-Director David Robert Mitchell has crafted a movie that not only delivers a message but also plenty of scares, and in a bold move he is not afraid to set many of its most unsettling scenes outside in broad daylight. The entire film has a calm, assured execution and direction that hints at a bright future in the horror genre

Just like the figure that stalks the protagonists, It Follows will haunt you for many days after you see it, unable to shake off this horror masterpiece.

5 stars