It Follows (2014) 

I would like you to imagine a version of Wes Anderson, less interested in grand hotels or fox bandits, and instead more interested in arthouse horror. Further extend your suspension of disbelief and imagine this version of Wes Anderson teams up with John Carpenter with a hint of Magic Sword mixed in to create “It Follows,” a film that truly sets the bar (especially when cinematography and score are involved) for low-budget psychological horrors. 

It makes the most sense to now dissect the two best aspects of this movie separately, starting with the cinematography. From the opening scene, the locations are given a feeling that never quite makes you feel safe, even before our main character Jay first meets the STD that is trying to kill her. 

The score gives off the same effect as it amplifies every other detail of the movie. The synth, along with the variety of technology that belongs to a few different decades, gives this film a timeless aesthetic, and one that works very well, making an already creepy atmosphere even more bone-tingling. 

What is truly a feat of excellence is how the cinematography and the score work so well in tandem.  Each compliments the other, making me curl my toes back into my body. 

While the performances were very acceptable, Maika Monroe as Jay went above and beyond to portray an out-of-the-box final girl. All her friends played the “sort of smart, but not too smart” roles pretty well, with only a hard-to-describe umph left to be desired from me. 

I found It Follows to be a film of true quality with an easy message to interpret through its runtime, looking at it as commentary on the dangers of teenage sex, maybe one long PSA for protection against STDs, or both. It’s simple yet incredibly enthralling. I occasionally found myself looking for something more out of it, even if that more didn’t need to exist, but what I was presented with satisfied me more than enough. 

4 out of 5 stars.