Greetings, and welcome back to October Horror Fest! Today, I watched one of the best horror movies I have ever seen. I’m not even joking. This one is an instant classic, and it is beloved by the horror community at large. It’s all symbolic, but of course, has some of the best scares of the past decade. And also, this film is LITERALLY Randy’s Rule #1 of Horror Movies. As its own movie. Oh yeah. Bear with me, my friends, as we venture into the world… of It Follows. Without further ado, sit back, relax, turn off the lights, grab some Candy and Popcorn, and let’s review…

It Follows

Our film starts out with an eerie opening scene, and an opening scene that becomes one of the most famous of recent years. A young girl by the name of Annie bursts out of her house and onto the street, staring at something we can’t see. She denies any help, even from that of neighbors of her own father, and runs back into her house, trying to juke whatever is following her. She grabs her keys and bolts, getting into her car and speeding away. That night, we find Annie on a beach. She sits in the sand, at peace, but terrified. She calls her father, and says she loves him and her mother so, so much. We cut to black, and immediately cut back in the morning. Annie’s corpse rests on the sand, her leg being absolutely twisted and mutilated, and this actually got to me. We cut to black once more, and our title card hits. Oh yeah, this is gonna be good.

Our film starts with a teenage girl inside of a swimming pool. She’s pretty, confident in her surroundings, and is honestly just carefree as can be. Her name is Jay, and she is our main character. She exits the pool, goes inside, and we meet the rest of our main cast. Kelly, Jay’s sister (she’s awesome), her friend Yara, and her longtime friend/somewhat fling, Paul (he’s also awesome). The night approaches, as Jay heads up to her bedroom. She gets herself all dressed up, and heads out to a date with her boyfriend, Hugh. Hugh and Jay head to the movies, where they banter like normal teens, although Hugh is older. It’s obvious that Jay really, really likes him. The two head into the theater and sit down, when Hugh points out a girl in a yellow dress. (This movie is unnerving, warning you all now). Hugh keeps pointing out the girl, but Jay begins to laugh. She legitimately can’t see her. Hugh was all smiles to begin with, but his face fell. Nervous, he takes Jay by the hand and books it. Hugh drives far away, not really explaining himself to Jay. The two have dinner, and we see them laughing together. However, the camera zooms in through the window next to Jay, and we see a man in red slowly walking toward Hugh.

The next night, Hugh picks up Jay once again, and he drives to a secluded abandoned parking garage. He walks Jay to a secluded spot after a “date”, and gets back in his car. Inside the car, Jay and Hugh do it. This, my friends, is literally the most important moment of the entire movie. After it’s done, Jay sits on the side of the open car, laughing and smiling about how she’s always thought about being grown up. Remember, she is still a kid. She’s carefree. Everything is okay, until Hugh re-enters the car with a chloroform rag, attacking Jay as she passes out. WHAT!? Just wait guys, just wait.

Jay wakes up inside the abandoned garage, tied up to a wheelchair. Still panicked, he explains why he did what he did. He looks legitimately sorry, as he says he won’t hurt her. He explains himself. Hugh just passed it onto Jay. It’s an entity, transmitted through intercourse, and the person with it will be pursued by this entity until it finally finds them. It can shapeshift into any person, someone the victim knows or someone random entirely. It follows them forever, but it only walks. However, it literally always knows where she is, and always walks toward her. If it catches Jay and kills her, it will go down the line, killing the previous person, and so on, and so on. It’s a death trap. AND, it can only be seen by the current victim, and everyone that had it before Jay can still see it. Hugh can see it, even though it isn’t on his trail after he gave it to Jay. And honestly, there is no true way to escape…

LET ME JUST SHOUT OUT QUICKLY. RANDY, THE GOAT, KNEW IT. You all probably know Rule #1 of Horror Fest at this point, but let me just copy it in, word for word. “There are certain RULES that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie. For instance, number one: you can never have sex. BIG NO NO! BIG NO NO! Sex equals death, okay?” And that, my friends, is why Rule #1 of Horror Fest will ALWAYS be Rule #1 of Horror Fest. We’ve seen it in Halloween, we’ve seen it in Friday the 13th, we’ve literally seen it everywhere, and now, it has its own movie. Thanks, Randy!

Back with Jay, Hugh notices a naked woman approaching from underneath the parking garage. Jay begins to scream and panic, as Hugh wheels her around. Jay panics, but Hugh keeps her safe, saying she needs to hook up with someone to get rid of it. Immediately. He drives Jay home after proving she is being followed, and jumps town. He’s gone, and Jay is on her own. Jay collapses in front of her house, and the police are called. However, they don’t find the naked woman, and they can’t find Hugh. It was an alias the entire time. THAT’S how serious it is. We see Jay slowly become more terrified, her pool becoming more and more deteriorated in some amazing symbolism.

Jay heads to her college the next day, but she is still super on guard. During her class, an old woman from outside begins to walk towards her. Jay looks around, but no one else can see the woman. She panics, and runs out of her class, walking down the halls as confused students watch her. Jay walks through the halls, as the old woman walks behind her. It’s creepy guys, and I’ve built up a tolerance to Horror. Jay drives away, and goes to a local Detroit ice cream shop where Kelly and Paul work. They take her in the backroom, as she tries to explain what happened. The two don’t really believe her, but since they love her, they agree to suspend their disbelief just a tad, having Paul and Yara stay at Jay and Kelly’s house for the night. Jay can’t sleep, and goes to sit on the couch with Paul. The two begin to connect, laughing about their first kiss as kids. We obviously tell that Paul has feelings for Jay, and Jay totally knows this, perhaps reciprocating them as well. However, when a window breaks and Paul goes to investigate, Jay is terrified.

Paul can’t see anything, but when Jay gets up to investigate for herself, she can. A disheveled half naked woman stands before Jay, slowly walking to her. This. Scene. Is. Disgusting. Jay understandably BOLTS upstairs and barricades herself in her room, beginning to sob. When the others knock on the door, extremely confused, Jay is hesitant to let them in. Eventually, she lets Kelly and Paul in, and she tries to explain herself, but is unable to. She hyperventilates, as another knock sounds on the door. Paul opens it, and it’s Yara. She walks in, BUT, in one of the scariest, most unsettling, most uncomfortable moments in modern horror, IT is there. It takes the shape of a towering tall man, coming from the darkness of the hallway and heading into the room. Jay understandably screams, and JUMPS OUT THE WINDOW, dropping to the ground, hopping on her bike, and bolting. She goes as the rest of the friends run after her in a pretty funny moment.

Greg, the neighbor, notices the commotion from within his car and also pursues Jay. Jay ends up at the local park, where she sits on the swing in a spooky scene. Her friends eventually show up, and Kelly holds her sister tight. Greg also arrives, and walks towards the group. Jay thinks he is “it” at first, but he talks, proving his innocence. Jay tries to explain what she is running from to her friends, but she is unable to, just saying that she needs to find Hugh. Greg wholesomely agrees to drive the entire group to Hugh’s house, and they set out. Arriving later that day, the house is boarded up, looking monstrous. The group head inside, and see the precautions that Hugh has taken. There’s bottles everywhere, warning of its presence. Upstairs, Paul discovered a photograph of Hugh and Jay from high school. Using this, we discover that Hugh’s real name is Jeff. Yup, his name is Jeff.

The group heads out once more, and finds Jeff. He is living with his mother, and is extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY, paranoid. Once finding him, he attempts to confront the group, but he is subdued. Jeff at least tries to explain himself, saying he really never meant to hurt Jay. He explains that it began to follow him after a random one night stand, and that he still isn’t safe. He tells Jay to just sleep with someone and leave him alone. The group leave, as Jay sleeps on Kelly’s shoulder in the car. We see Paul longing for her, as the night keeps on.

Greg decides to drive the group to a vacation home that his family owns. He’s been there ever since he was a kid, and it’s a beautiful, secluded place. The group actually begins to relax and have a bit of peace, as they relax on the beach. All is actually pretty good. All is calm. But you all know the name of this series, there is no calm in horror. On the beach, behind Jay, it appears, taking the form of Yara. This scene had my heart racing, as Jay doesn’t notice it getting closer, and none of the others can see it. It eventually gets to Jay, and attacks her, pulling on her hair. Jay escapes its grasp, and bolts along with the group to the large shed that Greg owns on the beach. However, before they go in, Jay shoots it. It falls, but not for long, getting up completely undamaged. They head inside, but it finds a way in, shapeshifting into a little boy. Jay, understandably terrified, gets into the car and drives away from the group and from it. It’s scary. Really scary.

However, Jay is scared. Too scared. She crashes her car, and everything fades to black. Jay wakes up in the hospital with a broken arm. She looks around, but it is not there, thankfully. While in her hospital bed that night, Jay makes the choice. She hooks up with Greg. Rule #1 broken. Three days later, Jay is getting ready to leave the hospital. Greg sits at her bedside, and doesn’t really believe the existence of the entity, even though the entire group pressures him to believe. Paul is obviously heartbroken.

That night, Jay gets out of the hospital, and watches Greg’s house through her window. She’s still obviously very paranoid. However, it gets so much worse when the entity appears. It breaks a window, and runs into the house. Jay, with her arm still in a sling, bolts out of her house into Greg’s trying to warn him. By the time she gets upstairs, the entity has taken the form of Greg’s mother, half naked. It’s knocking at the door, and in a chilling moment, pauses it’s knocking and stares at Jay. Jay is terrified, but it turns away and keeps knocking. Against Jay’s pleading, Greg opens the door carelessly. The entity rushes at him, and kills him, right in front of Jay. This is heartbreaking, but the entity turns towards Jay, and begins following once again. Jay immediately gets into her car, the entity still walking toward her. She gets all the way to the beach, where she sleeps on top of her car. The next morning, she sees some boys on a boat, and walks towards them in the water.

Now, I’m not entirely sure why she does this, or the true meaning of this scene, but it gets no easier for our girl. The next day, our climax begins. Jay gets back home, and rests in her room with the surviving members of the group. Jay and Paul have a heart to heart, where Paul asks for Jay to pass it on to him. He is completely willing to take a risk. BUT FOR SOME REASON, SHE SAYS NO. Paul and Jay reminisce on their first kiss in the abandoned Detroit swim team swimming pool. Jay, however, thinks it’s a good idea to go back. To have their final stand. The group sets out, with the entity, taking the form of a naked man, staring down at the group from on top of the house.

The group gets to the swimming pool, and plans to throw electric devices into the swimming pool to shock the entity to death. However, the plan doesn’t work. The entity arrives, and shockingly, it takes the form of Jay’s father. Instead of getting in the pool with Jay, it doesn’t take the bait, and begins chucking the devices toward her. Jay panics, and tries to swim out. Paul uses his gun, and the entity falls into the pool bleeding, but not before Yara is injured. Jay escapes, and in one of the most iconic scenes in modern horror, she stares back into the pool. An incomprehensible, almost horrific amount of blood circulates within the water, filling it a deep, deep red…

We cut to the rain, and hiding out from it, are Jay and Paul. They’re on the couch, and they do it. Paul now has the curse. He drives away to the same garage from the beginning, and passes two adult workers. He drives back home, and walks down the street, holding hands with his love, Jay. Behind them, a figure walks…

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! It Follows is one of my favorite modern horror films, and I am so thankful I was able to share it with you all. A popular theory on the film, and one that I may personally believe, is that the entire film is an allegory for STDs. However, I encourage you all to PLEASE watch it, and come up with your own theories! And, remember everyone, you are never safe. It will follow you. Always…