New horror movie "It Follows"

It's holding up well on RT: 94%.

 

Lot of Twitter chat on this movie. I'll be watching it.

 

This weekend.

 

I thought it was excellent. Normally, I'd avoid films like this, but it was getting such unanimous praise, I decided to go and I was not disappointed. It's very much a sort of old school horror film, relying on creating a sinister mood. There are no cynical scares, although there are two brilliantly executed moments that went down a storm in the screening I saw. What it does is create a mood of unease and as such, succeeds brilliantly. It owes a massive debt to the original (1978) Halloween (some early scenes of leafy suburbia are almost like a direct homage), and - occasionally - to The Shining, especially in two school sequences. Maika Monroe is solid in the lead too. After The Guest last year, she's now had two gems in a row.

 

I see a lot of horror movies. Definitely some major hype. Hope it lives up to it but I've been so disappointed before.

 

Oddly, or not, the TV commercials are not impressive at all.

 

The trailers and TV spots don't do it justice in my opinion. I saw trailers for it and was completely indifferent - dismissing it as another generic "teenagers in peril" conveyor belt horror - and it was only when the reviews started heaping praise upon it that I decided to go and discovered it was a more "intelligent" approach than the trailers/TV spots implied.

 

I'll check it out when it's available On Demand, or maybe buy the Blu-ray.

 

The trailers make this to be one of the creepiest films that I can remember in recent years.

I'm looking forward to seeing this.

 

Saw this with my wife because I do like "horror' movies but only when they're really good and this was getting so much praise. We had fun watching it, found it more amusing than scary. It felt like a decently crafted homage/satire of 70s/80s slasher flicks.

Spot-on observation above with the John Carpenter soundtrack, it was the first thing I noticed.

 

At first it was maybe the scariest movie ever, and now in that last post it's practically a comedy. WTF?

 

I'm guessing what Mike B might mean is that , as films like these go, it's a riot. While I suspect it would be even creepier in a sparsely-populated screen, I think it's probably best seen in a full cinema, and then the "jumpy bits" are actually kind of hilarious. There are two moments in particular (for people who have seen it already) -

Spoiler

first, the ball hitting the window when Jay is examining herself in the bathroom, and second, when the tall man appears in the bedroom doorway

- and on both these occasions at the screening I was at, there was a massive jump/shriek from the audience, followed by general nervous laughter/relief. As such, it works very well as a communal - and, yes, fun - experience.

 

Hopefully there's a decent-size crowd this Sunday afternoon. It's not playing at all that many South Florida theaters, as far as I can tell, so each one should be nice and full.

 

Yeah that's a pretty fair assessment. Especially your 2nd moment, that was really well done.
But also, my wife totally reacted like it was a straight-up comedy.

 

Finally saw it last night. Still digesting it, but holy cow that was a mesmerizing, nerve-racking experience. Definitely pushed all of the right buttons for me. Someone on another forum remarked that It Follows feels like John Carpenter's Halloween meets Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides, which is pretty spot-on.

While on a walk after seeing It Follows, I saw a woman walking like the thing from the movie -- walking the wrong way through an Arby's drive-thru, coming towards me from across the parking lot. Was she looking right at me? I felt a twinge of mild panic. I laughed at how silly I was being (how long has it been since a horror film got under my skin so much that it changed my perception of the world I live in, even briefly?), but then I immediately turned and walked the other way. Fast.

 

You should probably have her checked.

 

Just got out from seeing it. It's good, but the scary and nerve-racking aspect is being way overblown. The director has a good eye and the music is cool, the movie has some effective moments, and I agree that it feels like Halloween meets Virgin Suicides. But overall it was a little disappointing after the early buzz.

 

The movie is more creepy and eerie than "scary", which is how I've described it to my interested friends. I've also made a point of telling people to expect art house instead of straight horror.

We've gotten so desensitized by over the top excess and jump scares in modern horror that I believe some people will have a hard time appreciating the more subtle and 70s influenced vibe that It Follows employs.

 

Is it streaming?

 

No video on demand release yet. The studio decided to expand the theatrical release instead. They will be increasing to more theaters next weekend. Already on the way to being the most profitable release by Radius.

 

If you want proof that it's an art-house movie, there's a character who goes around quoting Dostoyevsky.

 

Yes, agree with the comparison. I enjoyed the movie, but the soundtrack was a bit overblown in the synth department. Not all the decisions the kids made were smart, par the course for the genre. But it had a nice retro feel, and the way it was shot keeps you on your toes - wait, that person... are they or... And sometimes nothing happens, and it's refreshing.

I questioned Maika Monroe's acting in her opening scenes but I think something else, maybe the video - look of those scenes, threw me off (my perception of acting and audio based on visual presentation is a discussion for another time). But as the movie went on, I thought she was excellent. The relationship with her sister rang true. The parents in the film were in the Charlie Brown category of on the periphery. This movie really trims the fat and just gets to story and the important relationships.

One other observation - for a film where sex is so important, nudity never tied in to the sex. Instead, it's part of the horror. A great topic would be a compare / contrast between this and the classic slashers and their gratuitous scenes compared to the non-erotic presentation in this film.

A classic? I don't know about that, but it's good and I'm still thinking about it 24 hours later. I love the success story behind the film - win one for the true indie.

Mark

 

Maika Monroe was also excellent in The Guest (2014). I think she's one to watch.

 

Maika is definitely very pretty and carried the movie.

Didn't realize till watching it was all filmed in/around Detroit area. I've been to the Redford many times seeing movies.

I thought it was well done. Music really stood out.

 

That trailer looks terrific to me. Some seemingly banal elements but I suspect that's the point. The daytime scenes and props and lighting look like they come from early color William Eggleston. I really like that look. The star's hairstyle looks slightly out of phase though.

I see this is rated R. I can still enjoy a good scare but don't have much of a stomach for blood and guts. For those who have seen it, where would you put this on the gross-out scale?

No spoilers please.