Maika Monroe in It Follows (Radius-TWC)

It Follows, a stunning new wave horror film, pays homage to its genre’s predecessors while also providing excellent craft and ambiance for a new generation of horror fans.

From its opening frame, the threat is tangible, with an exhilarating original score and soundscape by composer Rich Vreeland. A young girl runs out her front door into the street, panicking. We soon learn of her violent demise through a singular, succinct image. Much like the classic introductions in John Carpenter’s Halloween and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, unsuspecting violence hits you instantly, enveloping you in a strange, fearful world.

Jay (Maika Monroe), a 19-year-old living with her sister Kelly (Lili Sepe), has a small cohort of friends from high school, including Paul (Keir Gilchrist) and Yara (Olivia Luccardi). Jay has started dating an older guy, Hugh (Jake Weary), and one night they go to a movie. In the theater, Hugh sees a woman in a yellow dress and points her out. Jay sees no one. Hugh quickly leaves the theater with Jay, claiming he’s suddenly ill.

On their next date, they have sex for the first time in his car outside an abandoned warehouse. Afterward, Hugh becomes violent, knocking her unconscious. Jay wakes up in the warehouse, tied to a wheelchair. He goes on to explain that people, who do not exist, will start following her and that he has transmitted a terrible curse to her through sex. The only way she can be rid of it is by having sex with others and passing it on.

He warns her of these stalkers, ghostly people who follow those afflicted with the curse. Taking the form of anyone, friend or stranger, the prowler pursues its victim until it makes physical contact, to kill. Soon, a middle-aged woman with a blank expression walks through the brush, naked, toward Jay. “You can’t let it touch you,” Hugh says, before he takes Jay home.

She tries going back to a normal routine, but Jay starts seeing strange figures: an old woman in a hospital gown; a young girl her age, beaten and tattered; and a tall man with dark bags under his eyes, all relentlessly walking towards her. In a state of panic (well conveyed by Monroe), Jay goes to Kelly, Paul, and Yara for help, insisting that what she sees is real and is out to get her. Thankfully her friends come to her aid, especially Paul, a childhood friend with strong feelings for her. Along with the help of their neighbor Greg (Daniel Zovatto), they seek out Hugh, who has skipped town.                    

Like the original Night of the Living Dead and The Exorcist, great sound effects, editing, and minimal make-up come together to create technically pristine sequences that consistently had me covering my eyes. Wide, naturalist camera angles and lighting intensify danger that could come from anywhere. Director David Robert Mitchell also leaves random walkers in the background, which makes the movie that much more unnerving and fun.

The movie is genuinely scary without having an overly sadistic fetish. This is not Eli Roth’s Hostel or any derivative Asian horror remake. Much is effectively left to the imagination regarding blood, gore, and computer-generated effects. Along with sharply minimized technical craft, It Follows is also a callback to ’80s horror like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th in one obvious way: the horror trope of teenagers, with no parents around, having sex. And the way Mitchell employs it may stir some debate.

There’s a great anxiety amongst the characters at different points, and sex either represents a relief from their troubles or an intensifier. Jay clearly is not sure whether she should be having sex at all, for fear of spreading, for all intents and purposes, death.

Shot in Detroit, the city appears gray and faceless, with abandoned buildings and rows of dilapidated houses. The city’s population has dropped incredibly in the recent decades, so at least it’s reassuring to see its inhabitants still driving and walking around onscreen, whether they are living or not.