Thursday 5 March 2015

IT FOLLOWS

Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi
Writer: David Robert Mitchell
Director: David Robert Mitchell

Finally released in the UK after it seemed to be touring film festivals for ever and with a number of great reviews to its credit It Follows, er, follows 19-year-old Jay (Monroe) who's unwittingly plunged into a waking nightmare after a sexual encounter results in her being the recipient of a curse which involves being pursued by a murderous, soul-sucking entity that can only be seen by those who've been cursed. Just about the only positive thing is that said entity can only pursue its prey at walking pace and can't use any sort of transport so it can be outrun so Jay will have to keep outrunning it unless she can pass the curse on to someone else. And, of course, there's only one way to do that...

Firstly, let me say that this is a fine horror movie. The characters and their actions are, on the whole, extremely believable. The electronic score by Disasterpiece is nothing short of stunning (I'm buying a copy). The movie has a terrific late 70s/early 80s small town teen horror vibe; more than once I was reminded of Halloween, which is praise indeed. Maika Monroe (who was also in the superb Wingard/Barrett thriller The Guest) is excellent in the lead role and she's ably supported by a talented group of young performers. In short, I really liked it. I'm just slightly annoyed that I didn't love it, because so many people obviously do.

The first half of the movie is an impressive exercise in palm-moistening suspense as Jay is forced - literally - to see that her pursuer is real and then is confronted with any number of everyday situations where anyone approaching could be about to kill her. It's a genuinely unnerving premise and the film doesn't have to revert to a plethora of cheap jump scares to work incredibly well (although it can't resist an unexpectedly loud thump on a window at one point). Unfortunately the second half, although it has its share of chilling set-pieces, succumbs to the Law Of Diminishing Returns and it just didn't grab me the way the earlier sequences did. The story doesn't explore too many of the possibilities of Jay's predicament either. Monroe looking troubled, then having to leg it from some perambulating lunatic, then wondering just whether or not she should sleep with someone to pass on the curse is intriguing and fun for quite a long while but it doesn't quite hold up for 100 minutes.

I've read some reviews which said the very end is by far the weakest part of the film. I have to say that I disagree; considering what's gone before, I thought the final scene fitted the bill perfectly, complete with quite a nice "hold on, is that...?" moment. I wish I could wholeheartedly shout my praises of this film to the rooftops but I'm sorry to say that I can't. Don't get me wrong, you should check this out as it's a very good movie. I just can't say that it's a truly great one.

No comments:

Post a Comment