Cinephiles tend to be reluctant to call a new movie a favorite, instead favoring tried and true paradigms, but It Follows is a rare contemporary film that immediately struck a wide swath of viewers — myself included — as a modern classic upon its release in 2014. Comfortingly familiar yet invigoratingly fresh, I’ve only come to appreciate it more since, and Second Sight Films’ new 4K Ultra HD edition proves it hasn’t lost any staying power after nearly a decade.
The plot is deceptively simple: after a sexual encounter, 19-year-old Jay (Maika Monroe, The Guest) begins being followed by… something. The supernatural force takes a human form but never sticks to one for long; it could be a familiar face, an obscene stranger, or anyone in between. The only recourse seems to be passing it on to someone else via sexual intercourse. Otherwise, it will kill her, then the person who gave it to her, and so on down the line.
With her father absent and her mother distant, Sam teams up with her loyal friends — lovesick Paul (Keir Gilchrist, It’s Kind of a Funny Story), sister Kelly (Lili Sepe), and friend Yara (Olivia Luccardi, Channel Zero), with assists from neighbor Greg (Daniel Zovatto, Don’t Breathe) and ex-boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary, It Chapter Two) — in an attempt to bring the nightmare to an end.
From the film’s captivating opening — a 360-degree shot that tracks a girl running out of her house and around the neighborhood — it’s clear that writer-director David Robert Mitchell has a vision. Shooting on location in the Detroit area, where the filmmaker grew up, lends itself to a lived-in feel while subtly showing suburban dissonance. Together with cinematographer Mike Gioulakis (Us, Split), whose elegantly understated camerawork is impressive but not ostentatious, they depict a dreamlike reality.
One could get lost in the weeds trying to analyze the thematically dense material and poke holes in the mythology, but the rules are established as being passed down by young adults like an urban legend. The titular “it” is commonly interpreted as a sexually transmitted disease, but other popular theories include aging, abuse, and trauma. Or, perhaps, it’s simply a scary concept with no underlying metaphor. With Mitchell’s layered subtext and purposeful ambiguity, all readings are valid.
It Follows exists outside of time, subtly disorienting the audience with production design that blends past, present, and future in a single frame. Technology, cars, styles, and media featured in the film are from disparate eras; while most of it is vintage, a shell-shaped compact e-reader — an impractical device created for the movie — is prominently featured. Not even a season can be pinpointed, as costumes fluctuate from swimsuits to winter coats between scenes.
It’s no surprise that Monroe has become something of a horror darling after the one-two punch of The Guest and It Follows. She’s faced with a particularly challenging role here, which essentially requires her to be terrified for the entirety of the movie’s 100 minutes. The actress is vulnerable without becoming a damsel in distress, conveying fear and resolve in equal measure.
Like Halloween before it, It Follows‘ effectiveness is inextricably linked to its dread-inducing electronic score. In his auspicious film debut, video game composer Richard “Disasterpeace” Vreeland (Triple Frontier, Bodies Bodies Bodies) channels the atmosphere of vintage John Carpenter but with amplified abrasiveness. The soundtrack’s versatility stands out among the ’80s synth worship that dominates modern indie horror.
For its 4K Ultra HD debut, the UK’s Second Sight has newly mastered It Follows in 4K, in conjunction with the original post production facility, with Dolby Vision HDR and a newly-produced Dolby Atmos audio track. (The included Blu-ray won’t play in most US players, but the UHD disc is region free and has all the extras.) While it may not be the most significant 4K upgrade, given that it was shot digitally and completed in 2K, quality is noticeably improved over the original Blu-ray. The restoration is noted as being approved by Mitchell, but the filmmaker is otherwise absent from the release. I respect his desire to maintain ambiguity, although his retrospective input would be valuable.
Louisiana State University professor Joshua Grimm, who authored a book on It Follows for the Devil’s Advocates series, provides a new commentary that’s analytical but not pedantic. Armed with information culled from a variety of articles, coupled with his own theories, the well-researched extra is perhaps the next best thing to having Mitchell himself. The archival track with film historians Danny Leigh and Mark Jancovich, on the other hand, is more like a fan commentary — and not a particularly illuminating one. (The critic commentary led by Scott Weinberg from the US release is absent.)
The disc has interviews with: Gilchrist, who reveals that Mitchell upheld the film’s ambiguity with the cast; Luccardi, who beams about her first movie being mentioned in the Scream franchise; producer David Kaplan, whose insightful discussion includes an alternate ending that was written but not filmed; Vreeland, who reveals he hadn’t seen a John Carpenter movie prior to composing the score; and production designer Michael Perry, who recalls his biggest concern being the shade of pink used for the e-reader. Taken as a whole, they paint a picture of a challenging production that everyone is ultimately proud of though no one could predict its impact. Filmmaker Joseph Wallace explores “The Architecture of Loneliness” in a thoughtful video essay.
A limited edition version is available at nearly twice the price, but it’s worthwhile for the exclusive, 150-page hardcover book consisting of new essays by Anne Billson (“Untrivial Pursuits”), Kat Ellinger (“It Unfollows: How It Follows Suberts Teen Horror Conventions”), Eugenio Ercolani (“The Intangible Monster of Teenage Fears”), Jennie Kermode (“In Pursuit of the Inevitable: It Follows and the Psychology of Death”), Martyn Conterio (“Anxious Youth: The Myth of the American Sleepover as a Precursor to It Follows”), Kat Hughes (“It Follows: Sex (Death) and the Final Girl”), Matt Glasby (“It Follows: The Unhappiness of Pursuit”), and Katie Rife (“Ongoing Investigations into Malevolent Thought Forms, or: Sex Tulpa”). It’s housed alongside the discs and six art cards in a rigid slipcase with artwork by Thinh Dinh.
Much like how its characters exist in the liminal space between adolescence and adulthood, It Follows strikes a perfect balance between classic slasher and contemporary arthouse horror. Shades of Halloween, Blue Velvet, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Rear Window, and Final Destination can be found in its DNA, but Mitchell builds upon his influences rather than slavishly emulating nostalgia. As much as I’d love to see more of this unique world, the lack of definitive answers is scarier than any sequel could be.
It Follows is available now on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray.
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