In It Follows, one of the Midnight Madness films at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, nineteen-year-old Jay (Maika Monroe) finds herself being stalked by a supernatural entity that's latched onto her after she slept with the wrong guy. You see, the "It" of the film's title is basically a sexually transmitted poltergeist -- an outlandish concept, but one that director David Robert Mitchell approaches with deadly seriousness...
Here's my take from my review of the film at TIFF:
Here's my take from my review of the film at TIFF:
3 out of 5.As Jay quickly learns, there's one rule that's of paramount importance to her survival in this deadly game of cat and mouse she's unwittingly entered into: she must have sex with someone to pass along the curse, otherwise the entity will never stop hounding her. However, ridding herself of it altogether isn't quite as simple as that, for if that other person dies, it will circle back to her.As Jay, her sister, Kelly (Lili Sepe), and their friends (Keir Gilchrist, Bailey Spry and Daniel Zovatto) attempt to outrun and outfox her unrelenting, paranormal stalker — which can assume any form — they're accompanied by a grinding synth score (by chiptune composer Rich Vreeland, aka Disasterpeace), intended to evoke the early films of John Carpenter. Even so, the film is best described as "Carpenter-lite", for though it's heavy on atmosphere, the promise of its intense and disturbing opening sequence is squandered on later scenes that stretch the narrative to the point of monotony. Still, Monroe is more than just your average scream queen, and the audience's ability to connect with the terror unfolding on-screen owes almost entirely to her performance.