Sexed up and spooky

It Follows
English (A) Cast: Maika Monroe, Linda Boston, Caitlin Burt, Heather Fairbanks, Aldante Foster
Director: David Robert Mitchell

David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows spotlights a clutch of clueless teens who are snared by an unseen horror that relentlessly pursues them. Slowly, seductively and subtly, It Follows looks at what a one-night fling could do to the psyche of 19-year-old Jay. The trauma thereafter takes a toll on not only her, but also her friends who throw a protective armour around her.

While the film’s carousing camerawork by Mike Gioulakis and haunting background score by Rich Vreeland provide a hair-raising eerieness to the thriller, Mitchell’s singular emphasis on action and tropes is off-putting as the teens take on the invisible, intimidating force.

Evoking the atmospherics of the celebrated genre, Mitchell exploits the angst that arises in the wake of underage sex and the ethical queries that dog young Jay. On the whole, an edgy, spooky thriller.