It Follows (2014)

It's been a while since I've been in the mood for a real horror. Meaning one that seems to have the potential to scare me. Which is quite improbable, but if it is to happen it applies for the "ghost/demon/poltergeist" subgenres. In brief UME = Unexplained Malefic Entities :). Because for serial killers, zombies or animals with excessively sharp teeth (ex. sharknados or piranhas in 3D) I don't feel any increase in pulse rate. Actually, I didn't expect to have that either for "It Follows". Because, in my blissful ignorance, I've chosen the movie without any deep research. I told myself that's probably lighter than the alternatives: "The Conjuring" or "Woman in Black". Since I didn't see these two, I can't say if it was lighter, but what I can say is that since "Insidious" I don't think I've seen anything else to make me feel ... let's say "uneasy" (at least during some moments) ...

Jay has a boyfriend. She doesn't know him really well, but enough that, after a romantic evening on the beach, to offer him a more steamy follow-up on the backseat of the car. What Jay doesn't know is that her boyfriend carries a ... sex curse. A viral one. It may sound funny, but trust me ... in the movie is rather scary. Especially after Jay founds out that Hugh is actually Jeff, and the curse is for real. What's the curse about? "It". What does "It" do? As the title says: follows. Or to be more clear, "It" is an apparition seen only by the cursed, who follows the last cursed person. And after it reaches the person ... Well, enough. I've already spoiled almost a third of the movie :)

We have an indie here. One of the fortunate cases when the indie is exceptionally well done. Somehow, who directed, written and produced it, managed to gather the best crew with the money he had. The only flaw that I see, keeping in mind we're talking about an indie, is the beginning, which is rather slow. We have two strong points in the production: 1. The cinematography - I've rarely seen a movie that can create so much tension just through the camera work. We have a couple slow tracking shots combined with zoom-ins that are amplifying a lot the creepy factor in some scenes, and that's just one example. 2. The soundtrack - the 80's are back. The music is written by somebody called "Disasterpeace". And Disasterpeace apparently likes synth :) If you've seen "The Serpent and The Rainbow" by Wes Craven and you still remember the feeling that Brad Fiedel's soundtrack gave there, well .. we have pretty much the same here.

To give a final verdict, I think that if John Carpenter would've made "The Ring", the result could be directly compared with "It Follows". If this mix sounds interesting, you should watch this ...

Rating: 4 out of 5