"It Follows" Review - Written by Tim Hellman

'IT FOLLOWS': Five Stars (Out of Five)

Critically acclaimed indie horror flick about a young woman who's constantly followed by a mysterious unknown entity, which is trying to kill her. It was written and directed by David Robert Mitchell and filmed on a budget of just $2 million. The film stars Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Lili Sepe, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary and Olivia Luccardi. It's a classic horror film, in every way, and it definitely lives up to all of it's hype!

Jay (Monroe) is a nineteen-year-old college student with a crush on a 21-year-old guy, named Hugh (Weary), she just met. The two go out on a couple of dates and then have sex together, in Hugh's car. Hugh then knocks her out, with chloroform. When Jay wakes up, Hugh informs her that he's transferred a curse to her, by sleeping with her, and she'll now be followed by a mysterious unknown force, that will constantly try to kill her. He explains that the only way she can get rid of the curse is to sleep with someone else, as he did with her. Jay spends the rest of the film frantically trying to elude the deadly entity, that's now following her, with the help of her friends.

The film appears to be set in the 70s or 80s, most of the time, but the characters also use cell phones and other modern devices, at other times. Still it has that classic 70s, or 80s, horror movie feel to it; and the timelessness of the film's setting is part of it's magical charm (Monroe also starred in the retro 80's action flick 'THE GUEST', just last year). The score, by the electronic musician known as Disasterpeace, is strikingly haunting and very reminiscent of the popular slasher flicks of yesteryear. The whole movie just has that classic horror genre movie feel to it; like those directed by John Carpenter or George A. Romero. It feels a lot like a very haunting, and quite disturbing, nightmare; which is what Mitchell says he based the premise for the movie on (his own recurring bad dreams, about something constantly following him). There's of course a lot of unexplained mystery to it, and several aspects of the story that don't seem to always make sense, at all, but that's part of the movie's charm as well. I think 'IT FOLLOWS' will go down in history, as one of the truly great horror movie classics; just like all the ones that seem to have inspired it!