Screened as part of NZIFF 2014

It Follows 2014

Directed by David Robert Mitchell Incredibly Strange

“With its marvellously suggestive title and thought-provoking exploration of sex, this indie chiller is a contemporary horror fan’s dream come true.” — Tim Robey, The Telegraph

USA In English
100 minutes CinemaScope / DCP

Producers

Rebecca Green
,
Laura D. Smith
,
David Robert Mitchell
,
David Kaplan
,
Erik Rommesmo

Photography

Michael Gioulakis

Editor

Julio C. Perez IV

Production designer

Michael T. Perry

Music

Disasterpeace

With

Maika Monroe (Jay)
,
Keir Gilchrist (Paul)
,
Daniel Zovatto (Greg)
,
Olivia Luccardi (Yara)
,
Jake Weary (Hugh)
,
Lili Sepe (Kelly)

Festivals

Cannes (Critics’ Week) 2014

Elsewhere

“The most exciting film in Cannes has landed, like some terrifying spectre on the beach. Somewhat unusually, it’s an American indie horror film. Despite borrowing cleverly from the best, It Follows still manages to feel like no other example in recent years – tender, remarkably ingenious and scalp-pricklingly scary.” — Tim Robey, The Telegraph 

“The film’s premise is inventive, brutally simple, and wisely left unexplained: After sleeping with new boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary), Jay (Maika Monroe) finds herself constantly pursued by…something. Wherever she is in the world, this thing, which can take any human form, and which no uninfected person can see, is walking directly toward her, at a steady but moderate pace, with murder on its mind. It can easily be outrun, but it never stops coming, and the only way to get rid of it is to pass it on to somebody else via sexual intercourse – though if it kills that person, it reverts right back to stalking you.

No doubt that sounds like a Cronenbergian transmissible-disease metaphor, but Mitchell’s aiming for a more disarming, heartbreaking target, which comes into focus as Jay attempts to transfer her nightmare to random strangers, the callous hunk across the street (Daniel Zovatto), and the dweeby guy (Keir Gilchrist) she’s long friendzoned. Mostly, though, It Follows just goes to town with its spectacularly creepy conceit, which requires constant scanning of the frame for innocuous-looking extras who might be on the right trajectory.” — Mike D’Angelo, The Dissolve