Tag: it follows

The catch up weekend: It Follows

I am finally able to say I feel more on top of the horror genre. Friday night I saw BABADOOK. Last night at 945 in a movie theater, I saw IT FOLLOWS.

And it did follow indeed.

By now you surely know the concept. Kids have sex to transmit not an STD but a demonic other worldy force. Then it follows them. And wants to kill them..

Let me first stop before anything else and reflect on what I was told IT FOLLOWS was, and then give me thoughts. IT FOLLOWS was the horror movie of the decade, some said. Other painted a haunting picture of a movie that hits deep, that means something, speaks volumes about poverty and modern day economic problems, youthful angst and casual sex without thought. The horror flick has scored well on a number of different websites. Movie reviewers found little about it to be critical ..

So in the constant spirit of daring to be different, I had to find something, right?
Well it was tough.

There really wasn’t anything done wrong in IT FOLLOWS, just a lot of things done much better than other films..

The best, overall, the utmost best part of IT FOLLOWS was the score. I am considering purchasing the soundtrack but figure I may not listen to it because it would scare me too much. The music was foreboding. It was somewhat similar to HALLOWEEN at times.. It caused your heart to race and quite often sort of forced you to glance around in the dark movie theater to ensure you weren’t going to see someone follow you. The music set the tone. It was amazing.

The other tone setting aspect: The setting. Detroit, 8 mile, and the clash between the suburbs and the inner city. There were so much political, sociological, and economic commentary in the film, you lost track.

The cast of the movie further complimented the storyline. Maika Monroe deserves all of the credit she has been getting. She became a scream queen without screaming.. She is faced with a force that, if you follow it through, will never stop following her and eventually will catch up. Keir Gilchrist played a believable role as Paul. Jake Weary was the ‘bad guy’ but not really bad as Hugh. It’s a tough movie to pin the blame on anyone in.. The rest of the cast compliment the best players in it. . . and they are all likeable and believable as people. In horror sometimes, we get the less interesting characters thrown to the wolves first. In IT FOLLOWS, we were given a cast of people we wanted to see live. We liked them.. Though a bit more background could have been done as to why they all seemed jobless and sad, I think that was the point. Detroit. Economy. Manufacturing base crushed and kids just having too much time on their hands in the fraying safety net of the BURBS.

There were a few other things I thought were amazing..In IT FOLLOWS, we don’t really know what the force looks like. It takes on the appearance of many different people.. so what is really behind those human faces? That is the creepy mystery that persists even after the movie is over.

And speaking of over.. the ending 15 minutes were intense. The movie is a little slow in building up a story, but the last few scenes are heavy in action and emotion, raw in horror, and epic in production. The final final final scene gives rise to the possibility that the viewer of the movie is either paranoid or the makers have perfectly set the scene for IT STILL FOLLOWS, a potential sequel..

But I hope there is no sequel.
I think this movie will stand on it own and be a place marker in the history of horror–and perhaps a game changer more than anything. It may sweep away the pointless and give us something we can cherish… a horror film that scares but doesn’t do it in a cheap and pointless way. A movie about sex and with nudity, but somehow done in a way that doesn’t cheapen the story.

But the music..
The foreboding music.

I think the scenery and the score of the film are dramatic and done the best of all.. I am not going to conclude, as some others have, that this is the best horror movie of the past ten years. But I will certainly say it has the best elements of horror that could make me eventually feel it was the best movie in a decade… that may have started last night driving home in the darkness… when even in a safe car, I found myself glancing at the night time air and pitch black forest around me to ensure that no one was following me.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JgeucI4oLs]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dwvCkaTBz0]

April 19, 2015
THE SCREAM QUEEN WE DESERVE IN 2015

Aly Semigran in BUSTLE writes a good article on the cultural meaning of the horror film IT FOLLOWS and how Maika Monroe is a ‘feminist scream queen icon we deserve in 2015′

This new article is just a continuation of mainstream and alternative sources giving this movie some of the best ratings and best press that any horror movie has received since HALLOWEEN in the 1970s or SILENCE OF THE LAMBS at the end of the 20th century..

It’s amazing to see so many different publications giving both street cred and real cred to a horror film–a genre normally avoided with ten foot poles by most reviewers and news agencies.

This movie has cut across cultural boundaries and has redefined what may be scary–along with it giving people commentary on teen sex and the economic collapse in Detroit..

2014 reviews of BABADOOK were kind. But the IT FOLLOWS reviews were overly generous regardless of the site or source writing them..

And it’s translating to an ever-expanding amount of theaters and change in the dynamics for horror itself..

April 6, 2015
IT FOLLOWS review roundup and theater locations

The movie is being released in a limited capacity today.. but that doesn’t matter to reviewers and fans of horror. The film has attracted untold amounts of attention through intelligent social media buzz and positive reviews–the film is boasting a near 100% rating on ROTTEN TOMATOES. Those types of things don’t happen too often..

Here’s a wrap of some of the reviews for the film that seem readable:

A VOX review is calling it the scariest movie in years.. “This is a movie you need to see right now.”

A THE WEEK review calls it a mesmerizing ‘coming of age’ movie” “The sense of unease is buoyed by Rich Vreeland’s terrific, pulsing score, which recalls John Carpenter’s unforgettable work for Halloween”

SALON: An instant horror classic about the dark side of teen sex: “There are distorted but obvious images of several real-world issues in “It Follows,” including acquaintance rape, teen suicide and mental illness, but you can’t boil the movie down to any of those things any more than to a metaphorical treatment of Detroit’s social and racial divide.”

i09: Proof that horror movies don’t have to be dumb to scare you: ” It offers an unpredictability that’s become increasingly rare in horror. For that alone (and for not being a sequel, a remake, a found-footage extravaganza, or gratuitously gory) It Follows deserves high praise. This movie is absolutely one of the year’s must-see horror films.”

Entertainment WEEKLY praises: “Even with its flaws, though, It Follows is a dizzyingly tense and creepy workout. Oh, and I almost forgot… Hey kids, don’t have sex!”

NEW YORK POST says the movie will stick with you.

A VULTURE reveiwer says ‘I’ve rarely been as scared as I was in IT FOLLOWS’

There aren’t currently too many theaters showing it. I have a feeling word of mouth will create demand.. and create a sensation. It will be the sleeper hit of 2015.

This is a full listing of the theaters you can see it

March 13, 2015
The horror renaissance , 2015

A good list has been compiled by the AV Club about how to make good horror..

And it’s good horror that has been lacking for too long of a time, besides a few gems that have popped up through thebyears..

This article linked here could help any upcoming writers or directors create a new masterpiece of our time and genre..

I am perfectly fine that the Era of torture porn appears to be coming to a close..

Of course as I say that a popular Go fund Me still exists for 30, Rob Zombie’ upcoming film. .

The masterpieces of yesterday may never get repeated–even though we keep on trying to recreate them over and over again with remakes and redos.. Instead, directors and writers should update the standards, refocus on what is scaring this new generation.. And what isn’t.. Slashers lost their effect.. Our reality is comprised instead of trustworthy men in business suits ruining the world. That’s scary..
Equally scary: The future of robots and nanotechnology.. science fiction and horror can merge in a beautiful and well-made with under the direction of the right producer.

And maybe even more, horror movies should teach lessons again. Become societal commentaries again. Like DAWN OF THE DEAD. That movie held a revolutionary message. Even some say the same for FRIDAY the 13th, calling it a commentary on the Reagan era and the rise of the Religious Right. The SAW films capitalized on America’s newfound love of torture after 9/11..

And now today, as this is written, IT FOLLOW and BABADOOK are celebrated not only in alternative sources but also mainstream press as horror films worth seeing.

That’s a positive.
Horror can be as important as drama or any other genre.. As a matter of fact, even more so: It’s the primal fears, the instincts of humanity, the hopes and prayers of survival.. the scares of what we cannot control. All rolled into one hour and a half (or more) of visual and emotional scares.

Today, IT FOLLOWS is released in a number of theaters–but not nearly as many as I wish. With success, of course, that could change.

Earlier this week, I wrote about the high praise of IT FOLLOWS. And the positive press hasn’t stopped there, the shower of love of this movie has only continued. And that’s a good thing if you’re a fan of what this genre SHOULD be about.

For years I have been the anti-horror movie horror fan, usually celebrating movies opposite of what pop culture says they love.. as an emotional and loving father, I am disturbed by many of the films in the horror genre that some praise. I get a little queasy when other sites write stories talking about the ‘best death scenes’ and the ‘kills’ of films.. But please don’t get me wrong, there’s enough room in any genre for subsets of the best.

The real reason that horror, to me, is still important and worthwhile to follow: Because when done right it can put a spotlight on pop culture or societal troubles, drench it with attention, and change the world.. I really do believe that.

March 13, 2015
IT FOLLOWS: Heard from a review, who heard from a review, who heard from a review this is going to be a good movie

The IT FOLLOWS heat is on..
The upcoming horror movie, much anticipated, is being heralded by some reviews as not only the best of 2015 but also the best in a long while..

A Samuel Zimmerman review on SHOCK TIL YOU DROP sets the stage:

How they converge is, brilliantly, in this aforementioned post-coital curse, one which carries the everlasting anxieties over where your lover’s been before, but pushes farther into all of life’s stresses. Where am I? Where will I go? Who will I become? There’s a deliberate dread in “It’s” rules. Once you’ve got “it,” there it is, walking slowly, assuredly your way. This is where Mitchell has fun composing wide, confident frames— your eyes engaged, always under attack, searching for “It.” At more reprieving moments, he acknowledges the absurdity of the accursed characters and elicits huge laughs. When more explicitly a threat, the director and cinematographer Mike Gioulakis still employ symmetrical, centered stunning visuals. This time, they’re less paranoid and more confrontational, immediately assaulting. Sometimes, “It” is in your face. Others, it’s throwing electrical appliances at it.

As the review goes on–in my humble opinion–it shares too much of the premise and gives a little too much away of the ending, you may want to shield yourself from the final paragraph that spoils without warning. But the essence of the Zimmerman story yields the result that this film is going to be a bit different. There is a message here.. one that may need to be explored with a deep mental journey.

The plot would be laughable in a movie that doesn’t script it very well, but it seems that IT FOLLOWS makes it work. A entity, paranormal and foreboding in nature, is spread through teenage lust and sex. There is something similar when compared to 80s slasher flicks–such as JASON and FREDDY ruining the lives of the sinning children who act out teenage passion in pre-marital sex. But IT FOLLOWS brings a new darker presence to it: The shadow is cast on the woman by this sexual entity, this curse which is handed down through the false love that happens when you’re a tender teen tot not yet experienced with what love really means..

A DIGITAL SPY look at the movie jokes that you may never look at swimming pools or sex the same again. Again, even with this DIGITAL SPY review, author Ben Rawson-Jones gives some spoilers (this time we were warned, though) .. He writes,

This strange affliction can only be picked up and passed on through sex, which throws up some fascinating dilemmas. Digital Spy caught up with the movie’s writer-director David Robert Mitchell to find out what inspired the tale, whether a franchise is on the cards and how tricky some of the key plot twists were to pull off…

DIGITAL SPY goes on to interview Mitchell, who says some interesting things about his horror flick that could, including the fact he had a nightmare since youth of entity following him .. the sexual allegory was added to IT FOLLOWS. Mitchell also downplays the idea of a sequel, joking that “IT’S STILL FOLLOWING” just doesn’t sound right..

Reviews for the film have been overwhelmingly great–something that does not happen for movies, but especially for those of the horror genre too often. Even the old grey lady has positive words to say, with a Mekado Murphy interview of the star of the film in the NEW YORK TIMES: Maika Monroe.

Monroe is already being called the 21st century scream queen–a champion role that many stars of the 20th century still hold dear to their hearts, even after their careers moved on from horror..

iDigitalTimes says it’s a horror movie like you’ve never seen..

Roger Moore says it’s a dead teenager movie that gives teenagers a deep idea to ponder..

Another review calls the movie horror boiled down to its bones…

Review that says the movie is ‘made with love,’ not something said often about horror flicks..

The site ROTTEN TOMATOES has the movie with 98% positive–something else that rarely happens for horror.

The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive for Mitchell and Murphy..
The ideas presented in the film seem to force questions over sexual morality and the often false safety of suburbia–and even, some say, a certain GATSY like vision of the collapse of the American dream.

This movie has a lot to offer.. a deep meaning, jumps and scares, and perhaps, just perhaps, a brand new scream queen for a new generation that needs horror movies to make a difference again.

Follow it FOLLOWS now.. The world has been watching it, and on Friday the 13th, it’s going to get a limited release–that could equal a big sensation and sleeper hit of 2015.

THE 21ST CENTURY’S SCREAM QUEEN

March 10, 2015