Thursday 5 March 2015

It follows (3 Stars)


Jay is still a virgin. She finally has sex with her boyfriend Hugh in the back of his car. I suppose it has to be somewhere, but the back seat of a car? That's hardly a romantic setting for the first time. Afterwards Hugh warns her that she will now be followed by a creature which constantly changes its appearance. Previously it had followed Hugh, now it's following Jay, and the only way for her to lose it is for her to have sex with someone else, to pass it on. Only Jay and people who have previously carried the curse can see it. Jay doesn't believe Hugh until she sees a naked woman walking towards them. They escape by driving away. The creature doesn't run, it only walks at a steady pace, so by driving a distance Jay has time to rest while the monster catches up. Jay is also told that if she's killed the monster will go back to following Hugh, then the girl that Hugh had sex with, all the way back through the line to the beginning, whoever and whenever that was.

The film is certainly scary, as we see schoolgirl Jay (Maika Monroe) being followed by one person after another, sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes old, sometimes young. It's always obvious from the creepy appearance that it's the thing. It's unmistakable. So what should Jay do? Should she have sex with a random man, or stand her ground and battle the creature?

I would gladly have volunteered to let Jay pass the curse on to me. No, I'm not just being my usual horny self. I have it all planned out. I could fly from Birmingham to Detroit, where the film is set, have sex with Jay, then take the next plane back to England. The creature would need months to reach me. In fact, if it's not able to cross the ocean it would never reach me at all. It's all perfectly logical.

Despite the scares and despite Maika Monroe's beauty, I found the film somewhat dissatisfying. There isn't enough of a story to it. It's like eating candy floss (which the Americans call cotton candy). It looks so enormous when you buy a portion, but as soon as you bite it it shrivels up to nothing in your mouth.

The thing that bothers me most about the film is the very fact that the creature changes its appearance so much. If the film had been made in Japan it would have been different. It would have been a creepy looking Japanese girl with long hair walking after Jay. I would have liked that more.

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