New horror movie "It Follows"

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Monosterio, Mar 14, 2015.

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  1. progrocker71

    progrocker71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    The pool scene was a direct homage to Cat People, which is kind of cool to see a modern horror film that's even aware of the Val Lewton-produced classics from the 40s.
     
  2. Plinko

    Plinko Senior Member

    Exactly! Though I wasn't surprised after seeing the films the characters were watching on television during the film.
     
  3. Plinko

    Plinko Senior Member

    *MORE SPOILERS*

    A, the thing can make its way back down the chain by killing people. B, those three guys probably weren't going to believe what she told them. After all, who would believe a woman who swims out to your boat in underwear? C. Maybe only one of them was infected...and only this one had to die.

    I thought it was clear that it happened. When she noticed them, she walked down to the shore. Thought for a second, the took her clothes off and went into the water towards the camera. It would seem kind of odd for a woman to do something like this on any occasion.
     
  4. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    South Florida
    So I guess the idea is not so much to be specific about what happened as it is to make you think, "OMG, look at what she's resorting to you!" The same later with the guy and the prostitutes.
     
  5. Plinko

    Plinko Senior Member

    *SPOILERS*

    I would think so. I certainly felt a sense of dread after that implied seen. It may not have happened but I still felt disturbed by it. I also felt the same with the prostitutes. I think the implied boat seen could perhaps have been done a bit better or played out longer or stronger but if the director went further or more explicit with it, he probably would have been criticized for not having respect for his characters.

    There were some good suspense scenes in the film as well. I thought the scene in the hospital with the footsteps was very Hitchcock and very well done. There was another scene with the revolving camera in the boyfriend's school. Nothing happened but I thought the suspense was played out beautifully, the camera added tension, and the score added tension as well.
     
  6. progrocker71

    progrocker71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    The scene where they are sitting on the ground outside in the park had me tied up in knots as well. I love how so many of the suspenseful sequences took place outside in broad daylight, something that almost never happens in horror movies.
     
  7. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    Spoilers ahead . . .

    I thought this was a decent film. It was well written in that the strange and unsettling scene that takes place in the beginning after she wakes up makes perfect sense one you realize how the "curse" works -- he must teach her about it, to protect himself, and he has to make her understand it in a vivid way. Like many horror films it is about lost innocence (and like many horror films the symbolism is not subtle). The setting and mise-en-scene helps create that feeling of loss and nostalgia; it is undermined slightly by the very video-looking picture quality. Film and a softer image would have helped.

    I like your posts in this thread. I think you are reading this film well. I had mixed feelings about the anachronistic elements -- what is the girl with the glasses reading from? And in the second half there is probably too much of Detroit as it has become more recently, not as it was. But your point about the place of adults and the police is right on. They are like ghosts; they are there on the periphery but most definitely not there. Their only influence is their absence. The one time you see a parent's face, it is Greg's mother -- but not really. Of course all this is intentional. It is intended to evoke an environment in which children drift through their lives more or less on their own. I was reminded, somewhat, of "The Breakfast Club."

    It did. It just didn't last. Just seconds before this episode I realized what the movie was about to say, about how she could buy herself some time, and this was the part that made me the most uneasy, not in a good way, the way a good ghost story can, but just sort of disgusted.

    What do we think of the opening, and its more contemporary setting? Is it a prelude that takes place in the present, while the rest of the movie is in the past?
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2015
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  8. progrocker71

    progrocker71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I don't think the movie takes place in any specific time period. That adds to the surreal and unnerving atmosphere.
     
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  9. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    Oh dear. Though the act of bringing one's daughter to this picture could serve as quite a powerful (or just heavy-handed) example of how the audience can negotiate the meaning of media.
     
  10. Scott Wheeler

    Scott Wheeler Forum Resident

    Location:
    ---------------
    ***SPOILERS****


    Seriously? The police came to investigate the attack on Jay by Hugh. they had a major scene with her in which they reveal that he was living in a rented house under an alias and that they could not find him or the "woman." It's a major plot point with plenty of dialogue between the police and the kids. It's a major plot point because the police reveal the location of the house Hugh was renting. This leads to them finding the photo that shows where he went to high school which allowed the kids to find Hugh. It is central to the plot. Of course it is also a Scooby Doo moment. How on earth do the cops investigate this obviously creepy house that was obviously occupied by someone with some serious issues who is accused of kidnapping but they didn't find the photo that the kids found. That is just plain stupid. But it gets worse. Greg the kid across the street is killed brutally in his own home within days of the reported kidnapping. The police car is seen clearly in his drive way. Soooooo the cops decide not to walk across the street and talk to the kidnap victim about her friend being brutally killed? REALLY??? but it gets even worse still!!! At the pool, where the kids have illegally broken and entered an indoor pool. to try to electrocute a supernatural entity (pretty stupid idea in and of itself) Paul shoots a gun at the "it follows" monster and accidentally shoots Yara in the leg. that also happens to be Greg's gun! And soooooo we have a kidnap victim hanging out with a kid who shot another kid with a gun that belonged to the kid across the street who was brutally murdered in his home and the cops are where at this point? There is no excuse for this level of stupidity. The cops are there plenty in this movie. They are just sooooooooo unrealistically represented that it is totally absurd. I have an easier time believing in the supernatural aspect of this movie than how the cops are presented.

    There was plenty of dialogue between the kids and the cops when the cops were investigating the kidnapping. Enough that the dialogue lead to the next major plot point and plot hole, that being the house where Hugh was staying. This was very badly thought out.

    I disagree. I don't think that because a movie is a horror film with supernatural entities (I thought earlier you said it was not a horror film?) that there is a licence to be stupid. the plot holes and inconsistencies were just plain stupid. The writer did not think these things out or did not care to. Truly great horror films are much better thought out. but then truly great horror films also tend to actually be scary too.


    Wait, let's review... The police came to investigate the attack on Jay by Hugh. They had a major scene with her in which they reveal that Hugh was living in a rented house under an alias and that they could not find him or the "woman." The police reveal the location of the house Hugh was renting. This leads to the kids finding the photo that shows where he went to high school which allowed the kids to find Hugh. The cops OTOH already investigated this obviously creepy house that was obviously occupied by someone with some serious issues who is accused of kidnapping but they didn't find the photo that the kids found. Then Greg, the kid across the street is killed brutally in his own home within days of the reported kidnapping. The police investigate that murder but decide not to walk across the street and talk to the kidnap victim about her friend being brutally killed. The kids illegally brake into an indoor pool to try to electrocute a supernatural entity (pretty stupid idea in and of itself) Paul shoots a gun at the entity and accidentally shoots Yara in the leg with Greg, the just brutally murdered kid's gun. And the cops don't investigate any of this. You find **that** "highly plausible?"

    Actually they were given very specific instructions. So much so that it was a classic case of exposition in the place of more creative revelation of important information. Very amateurish writing IMO. of course the kids went on the mostly ignore this valuable information. And all the sex was completely irrational. It was the equivalent of having a hand grenade with the pin pulled out and just apssing it back and forth. What did passingt he curse accomplish either case with Greg or Paul?

    But did she? If so why? That was just an irrational tangent that went nowhere in the story. Something that happened far too frequently IMO.
     
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  11. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    learn to use the SPOILER tag please.
     
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  12. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    I didn't see hardly any grownups in the movie. Even in the hospital just two or three.
    He was worried about blood
     
  13. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    I just got out of seeing this film. The first half was absolutely mesmerizing. Absolutely brilliantly directed on the level of a Lynch or Kubrick. There is a wonderful lyrical cinematic mind at work here -- The director has an absolute grasp on what makes the cinema at times poetic and mythic. I was prepared to rant and rave about the director as a filmic genius Who has studied and absorbed the technique of some of the finest filmmakers in history like Altman and Antonioni, and has a wonderful feel for the slacker nihilism of the 90s found in the films of Gus Van Zandt or a film like "the Rivers Edge" -- Which for me represented a stylistic Highpoint in the previous decade. There's that same atmosphere at work here of young people trapped in the eternity of waiting and I'm certainty that is afforded to them by their longing and the relative freedom in the world. I still feel very strongly about this director as an auteur who is masterfully in control of his camera and has the eye of the supreme artist. Unfortunately the second half of the film stumbles a bit and in the fragmentation of it's narrative one gets the sense he began running out of story because he turns to a rather elongated action set piece which feels neither conclusive nor as inventive as what had come before (and vaguely reminiscent of the final scene and "let the right one in, which is film borrows a hint of it's hanging angst from ) And I think the films ending may leave many viewers unsatisfied because it is dealt with in a too fleeting manner and could've have been more pointedly crafted and lengthened. So why has this gotten such good reviews from the critics? Because I think like myself they saw the spark of genius this guy possesses and His sure and steady hand as a director and visual Artist. With a more tightly crafted script, and I'm only talking here about the second half, because the first half was about perfection this certainly could've been a small classic of the thriller-horror genre. I honestly thought thought the first half was better than "the Shining"and you are frequently reminded of Kubrick in the way the director handles the camera. And one of the strongest points for me is his inventive and expressive use of sound which was absolutely masterful.The photography is equally stunning. Wonderful. Reminiscent of those theory lingering laconic shots that Lynch does so well. So even though I think the film stumbles and it's narrative I also have to give this film A very high level of approval as an early work by someone who I think is capable of crafting magnificent films.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2015
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  14. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    The above dictated into a iPhone, so kind of a mess.
     
  15. reeler

    reeler Forum Resident

    I liked that it was shot in Detroit. That worked in its favor- the location shoot strongly contributes to the atmosphere and vibe of this film- and the abandoned house scenes were no doubt the real thing. The film felt like it was 80's and in some ways was paying homage to that style. The soundtrack especially. Maybe not for the jumpy/gory horror fan, but I liked it.
     
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  16. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    South Florida
    I saw the second half of It Follows again today. (Don't ask why just the second half.) Whatever the movie's shortcomings, the director, David Robert Mitchell, has a real gift for composition and camera movement. It's a great-looking film.

    I look forward to seeing whatever Mitchell does next.
     
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  17. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    Sneaking between theaters? :winkgrin:
     
  18. Baba Oh Really

    Baba Oh Really Certified "Forum Favorite"

    Location:
    mid west, USA
     
  19. Scott Wheeler

    Scott Wheeler Forum Resident

    Location:
    ---------------
    So was the goal to establish that the lead character was both sociopathic and stupid? Couldn't anyone in the real world figure out that not only was this choice not going to solve anything but that it would also mean that one to three random, innocent guys would die a violent death?
     
  20. Plinko

    Plinko Senior Member


    When I type spoilers in all caps, try reading the word. Or better still, start your own thread about the film for people who haven't seen it and just want to say silly stuff about it. What is so difficult about not reading stuff?
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2015
  21. Glaeken

    Glaeken Forum Resident

    Location:
    OH
    I just saw it a few days ago and loved it.

    So many nods to Halloween, and not just in the score. There's direct references to the scene with Jamie Lee glancing nervously out the window at school, and the one where she's walking home with friends.
     
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  22. Dreadnought

    Dreadnought I'm a live wire. Look at me burn.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Loved the cinematography, the atmosphere and settings, the near empty suburbs. Liked the use of near regular looking kids rather than models. Wish it had scared me though. That was missing for me. Maybe I was missing the point. looking forward to more from this writer/ director. His commentary about the opening scene. No spoilers in it.

     
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  23. kippy

    kippy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, USA
    Seriously disappointed. I can't believe the praise. A charitable 2.5 stars for a good idea poorly exectuted. Most overrated movie in recent memory. Go see Babadook if you want to see a great horror movie. Great soundtrack?!? It made John Carpenter seem like Beethoven. Bad ending. At least it was better than Blair Witch.
     
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  24. kippy

    kippy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, USA
    SPOiLERS:



    The demon or whatever has a physical manifestation even though he is invisible. First, you spray him with this stuff:[​IMG]

    He is now walking covered in sticky goo. Then I would hit it with a bunch of feather pillows..now he is covered in goo and feathers. Everybody can now see the freak. Now he is the police's problem. That's my ending to the movie.
     
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  25. bopdd

    bopdd Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I saw this movie recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not necessarily a classic for the ages, but it effectively kept my rapt attention from open to close and sustained a constant level of tension for me (albeit with a few lulls). The soundtrack and even some of the cinematography is sometimes so lush it's almost indulgent, but that didn't bother me in the slightest because movies like this are all about titillating the senses to begin with. For those who are nitpicking the premise, or saying the movie is flawed because it's not realistic, or calling it a shortcoming that the characters didn't do this or that, etc...well, to each his or her own, but I've never let hard logic or realism hinder my enjoyment of a horror movie (or supernatural thriller) in the past and I have no desire to start now.
     
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