Don't Believe the Hype, but Check Out "It Follows" Anyway*

It Follows

*If you're looking for an '80s slasher movie inspired, weird horror film.

If there’s one thing that can ruin a good horror film (aside from a major spoiler), it’s a hyperbolic quote from a review. For some reason, horror films seem to be the only genre that have this problem. Sure, comedies and other films deal with lines like “the funniest movie in decades” or “the best comic book movie ever,” but everyone pretty much ignores them. But call a scary movie “the most terrifying film you will ever experience” (from the poster of the recent Evil Dead) or “one of the most striking American horror films in years” (a quote from The Dissolve featured on the poster for It Follows) and the film instantly creates a schism (at least online). It must be because of the goal of most horror films: scaring the viewers. Some people like to be scared, but an equal amount like to watch so-called scary movies just to dismiss them as “dumb” or “not scary at all.” There’s nothing wrong with this necessarily except that it cheapens the rare, unique horror film. It Follows is one of those rare horror films. Like any good horror film of recent years (such as last year’s equally divisive The Babadook), there’s more to the film than jump scares and creepiness. For the record, I found It Follows to be fairly effective in that some of the imagery stuck me with me days after watching it. Also for the record, whether or not the film was “scary” did not factor into my opinion. 

It Follows can be viewed on a literal level, and possible enjoyed on that level as well. On the surface, this is a story about a sexual curse. We’re not told the origins, but at some point someone was cursed and followed by a malicious entity (the titular It) that will follow you wherever you go. If it gets close enough to touch you, It will kill you. Then it will go the person who gave it to you and so on until the original cursed person is killed. So you have to pass it on and hope that person keeps the chain going. This sounds a bit silly, but consider these two elements, and it becomes creepy. First, It can take on pretty much any human appearance. Sometimes it’s a (very creepy looking) stranger, sometimes it is someone you know, and usually they are naked or generally scary-looking. Second, and more important for the psychological horror aspect, you can never feel safe once you’ve been cursed. The fact that It will work back down the chain means passing on the curse is only a temporary solution. 

When dealing with such a strange concept, it’s easy to search for an allegory. The most obvious, but problematic, theory would be that It represents sexually transmitted diseases. That works with the whole “follows you the rest of your life” aspect, but the fact that you seemingly “have” to pass it on makes it questionable. I can’t think of any other allegories that promote the spreading of STDs. 

The more interesting theories don’t focus on the sexual nature of the film. After all, It Follows is certainly reminiscent of another franchise that punishes young people for having sex: Friday the 13th. Those films used the sex as part of the thrill of the film. It’s a horror movie cliché now (check out The Cabin in the Woods for a hilarious send up of said clichés). It Follows pays homage to that factor but doesn’t focus on the sex as the punishable activity. In fact, there is no reason for this curse at all. It just is. There’s something in actual life that just exists without a clear reason: death. That’s what all horror films are about, really, but It Follows looks at it in a surprisingly deep way while also taking part in the fun of ‘80s slasher movies. (In that way, it reminded me of one of my favorite film's from last year, The Guest.) It's understandable if you think that I'm looking too far into this movie, and it really is just a simple horror film. I would be inclined to agree if not for a character reading from Dostoevsky's The Idiot multiple times in the film, usually quoting passages ruminating on the anticipation of death. This is the kind of thing that makes a movie like It Follows stand out from the pack.

Almost equally important, however, is the fact that It Follows fits in with the pack too. It is very much a slasher movie in its tensest moments. The stalking It is truly chilling and, honestly, more disturbing than your stereotypical movie monster. What makes it even better is the fact that It can be anyone. This means every scene has the potential for horror. I was constantly scanning the background looking for It. That made for a more rewarding experience. The  hypnotic camerawork adds a perfect amount of tension to the proceedings. It's all topped off with a synthesizer-heavy soundtrack that seems lifted from the early '80s. 

If this all sounds a bit weird it's because it is. Those looking for a standard horror film will come away disappointed. The film takes place in modern times, but there is very little evidence (The Idiot being read from an e-reader is pretty much the only modern...anything in the film) of this. It reminded me of Wes Anderson's style a bit, especially when you factor in the plan to get rid of It near the end. Perhaps a better comparison for the look of the film would be to imagine a horror film taking place in the world of Napoleon Dynamite. Not that It Follows is all that humorous; it just has a timeless style. 

Friday the 13th, The Idiot, Wes Anderson, Napoleon Dynamite, synthesizers...It Follows is definitely a strange concoction of a horror film, and that makes it that much better. Is it the "scariest" whatever in centuries? No. But why does it have to be? Can any movie truly be the best, scariest, funniest, dumbest, weirdest, etc.? Anything ending in "est" means it's the viewer's opinion. So don't worry about what some stranger's opinion on a poster or preview says. Don't worry about my opinion. Form your own based on your own experience. When I see something is being touted as the "scariest" or "most striking" film in years, I don't take that as a challenge to disagree. I hope it means the film is different from most. It Follows is certainly different, and that's good enough for me.

It Follows receives a:

"The Babadook" Is Just as Good as All Those Other Scary Movies, but It's Better...Just Watch It.

*Note: I'll try to stay away from SPOILERS for the most part, but to really get into what I enjoyed about The Babadook, I may have to reference plot elements that could be seen as spoilers.  If you want to enjoy this movie completely, you should watch it before you read this review.  You've been warned.

The Babadook

Horror films are as popular as ever, but some people (i.e. me) might argue that there's not a lot of variety in the genre these days. It seems every film is now about ghosts or possession. I have enjoyed quite a few of these (The Conjuring and Insidious are standouts), but I have a hard time telling the difference between most of them (and it seems like Patrick Wilson is in every other one for some reason). They all feature spooky locales and things that go bump in the night. This is effective, and sometimes even scary, but it is not all that thought-provoking. Psychological horror has taken a backseat to ghosts and monsters that are without a doubt real (within the world of the film).

This is not to say that the popular films of late do not feature psychological elements. They certainly do, but only in that characters are driven crazy by ghosts and demons. At first glance, The Babadook appears to be just another scary monster featuring a boogeyman, although it is an admittedly super-creepy boogeyman. But it turns out to be much more than your standard horror film.

The Babadook has a fairly typical horror story as it is about a widow dealing with the grief of her dead husband (who died in a car accident the day their son was born) and her troubled son. You've seen this setup before: creepy kid with the stressed out mom. Then a creepy children's book featuring the titular Babadook somehow shows up on their bookcase. Then weird stuff starts happening as it seems more and more evident that the Babadook is going to make a visit.

That setup honestly left me less than enthralled with this movie at first. There was nothing too original about the scenario, and that kid (played by Noah Wiseman) was unbearably annoying. But, thankfully, The Babadook changes about halfway through.  I'll elaborate about that change in a spoiler-filled section later.

Now imagine this with the audio (*shudder*).

This movie is truly easier to review with spoilers, so I'll wrap up the spoiler-free part now. The Babadook is a deceptive horror film that plays with your expectations. Those expecting something similar to the blockbuster horror film may come away disappointed. But if you get on board with the film and get through the annoying first half, it becomes a rewarding experience. And it still features plenty of sincere, creepy-old-house-at-night scares.

Okay, SPOILERS from here on out. So it turns out that the Babadook is just the mother's personified (or should I say "monsterified") grief. The mother (an impressive Essie Davis) wrote children's books before her husband died, but she's been out of work since...except she wrote the book about the Babadook.  "Babadook," by the way, is an anagram of "a bad book."  She's been bottling up her grief to the point that she unconsciously created this boogeyman, and the film is the boiling point in which her grief tries to overcome her.

Once this became clear, other aspects of the movie made sense. All of the other characters, most notable her sister and an elderly neighbor, treat her with kid gloves. The neighbor even stops by to visit because she knows her son's birthday/husband's death day anniversary is tough for her. Knowing that she is pretty much going insane because of grief makes the movie much more interesting, and it actually excuses the problematic first half.

We're with the mother for most of the film, mainly in the beginning. This means we're seeing things through her eyes. That unbearably annoying child? Probably not as bad as it looks. His unnatural shrieking is really a projection of her grief and hatred. To be fair, the kid is still a bit annoying, but wouldn't you be if your mother was slowly becoming a grief monster? This made both Wiseman's and Davis's performances that much more impressive. For Wiseman, this meant being the sympathetic and the creepy kid; that's no small feat. For Davis, this allowed her to turn do a Jack Torrance-esque descent into madness. 

Some might not dig this attempt at psychological and traditional horror, but I loved it. It was a perfect mix because it played so well on my expectations. It's rare for a horror film to trick me like this. Don't get me wrong, most horror films are effective to me (I get pretty easily creeped out by films like this), but they rarely sincerely surprise me. First-time writer/director Jennifer Kent definitely has my attention. The Babadook is that rare film that can scare you and make you think a bit. That's a welcome change of pace in horror.

Random Thoughts (still SPOILERS)

On a personal note, I was not cool with the dog getting killed. As the owner of a beloved small, white dog, that scene was incredibly hard to watch. 

I got to watch this as part of an online screener from IFC, so I watched it on a laptop with headphones. The traditionalist in me was very much against this, but it turned out to be a surprisingly effective way to watch a horror film. The random thumps and creaks in the house messed with me much more when they happened directly in my ears instead of coming from the TV's speakers. It's a very intimate way to watch a fairly intimate movie. Who knew?

The Babadook receives a: