Horror is the most formulaic genre in cinema – or, perhaps, simply the one in which filmmakers seem most willing to rely on formula. The genre often descends into a spiral of derivative shtick, with the occasional good or great film spawning ten knockoffs that then give rise to another fifty of their own imitators. See Paranormal Activity, a novel 
At least for the first two-thirds or so. The film opens with a gripping sequence, horrifying in its simplicity. Writer-director David Robert Mitchell places his camera in the middle of a suburban street and simply, well, follows in a 360-degree pivot as a terrified young woman runs out of her house, into the street and back into the house before fleeing in her car. We don’t see whatever seems to be pursuing her, nor do we see how it brings about her grisly fate moments later. But we soon learn the specifics from Hugh (Jake Weary), a young man of questionable morals, after he has sex for the first time with our heroine, Jay (Maika Monroe). Hugh has a sexually transmitted curse of sorts, causing its most recent victim to be pursued by a slow-moving, malignant entity that can take the form of any human, either anonymous or dear to the victim. If it succeeds in killing its prey – as it did Hugh’s last sexual conquest, the woman in the prologue – it moves back down the line to the last person afflicted. Hugh explains that he’s only passing the curse on again to Jay to save himself. Helpfully, he adds that she should do the same as quickly as possible.
It’s a clever concept, a novel twist on the perennial horror subject material of teens, sex and death. But the real subversive brilliance lies in Mitchell’s presentation. First, Mitchell defies the horror dictum that claustrophobia equals terror. Starting from that chilling opening sequence, Mitchell keeps his characters at a distance, mostly in wide or medium shots. His boogeyman doesn’t work by that old trick where you follow your terrified protagonist closely, revealing suddenly that – BOOGA! – the bad guy’s right behind her. The creeping entity that pursues Jay doesn’t need to sneak up on you. It’ll get to you one way or another. Besides serving the peculiar nature of his antagonist, Mitchell’s wide-open compositions convey his characters’ alienation with crushing beauty. The young leads cling to each other in a bleak, often creepily uninhabited adult world that’s not as promising as they dreamed.
This horrific anti-claustrophobia is Mitchell’s most inspired subversion, but it’s certainly not the only one. Forget the idea that a horror villain should look cool, or at least unique. It could take the form of a character we know, or some random extra in the background. 
The big letdown of It Follows is that it’s not sure quite where to go with this setup. The denouement is quietly chilling, but it’s preceded by a fairly unremarkable showdown set piece. It’s entertaining enough, but it doesn’t deliver on the promise of the hour and a quarter of excellence that sets it up. But It Follows is only Mitchell’s second feature, and it’s still remarkable by any metric. It’ll be fascinating to see what Mitchell applies his considerable talent to next. And in the meantime, for once I actually wouldn’t mind seeing a few imitators adopt Mitchell’s unorthodox approach into their boring little horror rulebooks.
Patrick Dunn
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