Now the question remains, do we believe the director is an idiot for deciding such an outfit was appropriate? Or do we witness another objectification of female body which must look flattering at all times? I would answer “no” to both these suggestions.Īlthough in the movie there are numerous shots that dwell upon the beauty of Jay or her teenage sister, the camera never seems predatory. But they are also any woman’s last choice when it comes to running. She would be better off running barefoot. Not only are they high heels, they are stilettos (about 5 inches high at least). OK, it all sounds probable within the horror genre. Later we learn about It and may deduct that the girl knew It was chasing her and was going to kill her. Cut to the next morning: her mutilated corpse is lying on the same beach. When it’s dark we see her phoning her father on the desolate beach, crying and telling him that she loves him. She runs back to her house, only to return again with car keys, jump in the car and drive ahead. She dismisses a neighbor’s and her father’s offers of help and looks desperately around. The scenery is a quiet suburban neighborhood in the early morning. A frightened out of her wits girl runs out of her house wearing silk shorts and tank top pajamas. I will describe it because it keeps getting omitted in other reviews, even though it sends some important clues right away. The movie begins with a familiar “we don’t know what’s happening but it’s creepy” take. The girl is reading “The Idiot” by Dostoyevsky.
A curious mobile device that looks like a compact mirror. My conclusion is that time doesn’t matter – It follows in the same manner in every decade. During the interviews the director said he had wanted the movie to be difficult to place in time. Especially, Halloween (1978) keeps getting mentioned in reviews. All those time inconsistencies can be seen as tributes to horrors. We just have to accept this modern world as realistic when it obviously isn’t. We don’t get to know that the main characters are, for example, collectors of vintage objects. We get the objects, clothes, and even hairstyles from 70s, 80s and 90s mixed with mobile devices and talk of the present. The characters seem to exist in the strange world between different eras. It can look like anybody, including someone you know. It walks, instead of running, so you can escape. Hugh takes her from the spot and says she must sleep with someone else to pass it further, otherwise It will kill her and then return to kill him and the persons before him. They wait till a naked woman suddenly appears, heading straight towards immobile Jay. Hugh kidnaps her, straps her to the wheelchair and explains to the terrified girl that she wouldn’t believe him if she didn’t see It with her own eyes. Another night they have sex and then Jay finds out about her boyfriend’s true intentions – he wanted to pass something on to her. Her new boyfriend, Hugh, takes her to the local vintage theater and then starts to act strangely, apparently seeing people that aren’t there. Her days seem to consist of sitting around with her sister and close friends, drifting in a small swimming pool, and going out from time to time. Jay, a pretty and fragile-looking college student, leads a boring but seemingly satisfactory life in the suburbs of Detroit. The movie seemingly follows the familiar horror pattern: everyone who has sex, dies. “Meh? More like brilliant!”, were my second thoughts. Then it hit me and I invented my own theory of It. The cinematography and the script both suggest the depth that reaches behind the simple tale of survival. It is visible that its director, David Robert Mitchell, knows the horror genre and his craft. But I kept thinking about this movie for days afterwards. “Good idea, but weak execution, and please, enough with these nostalgic shots,” I thought. But if you’ve seen it or are only mildly interested in it, read the rest of this post. If you really want to see It Follows, an independent American horror that both critics and viewers admire, watch it first and then return here for my take on its meaning. I’m going to serve you spoiler avalanche/movie analysis here. And let me say this first: for me It doesn’t stand for any physical disease.
What is this monstrous It from this movie? Can it be that it symbolizes something more than what we see on screen? I think so.