TomOpus

^ At my showing of It Follows I believe there was a red band trailer. Would've been amusing if they did indeed switch movies.

Obi-Wanma

I saw this the other night, and I went in knowing basically nothing about it. Friend dragged me to, it, and all I really knew was that it was a low budget horror film. I didn't even know it was filmed here, but from the opening scene it struck me with how familiar the neighborhoods looked, like the ones I live and grew up in, which is really something I've never really experienced on film before.

It didn't strike me that it actually WAS here though until the shot of the ice cream shop with the big 12 Mile Rd sign visible above it though.

I think that added to the creepiness factor for me. Anyway, considering I had no expectations going in, I really found it to be a pleasant surprise. Enjoyed it a lot, and I'm not typically a fan of horror films.

Julie Walker

That was the only annoying thing with the mix up, since I was curious what trailers would be shown before it, even if the films may not be up my alley. But it was still surreal seeing all family fare play before a more adult movie. And I am glad they just went right to the movie once they sorted things out, instead of having to sit through another twenty minutes of trailers.

VHS?

I just finished watching this and it was fantastic.
I wont repeat all that's been said, but so much of this movie had me not even blink and eye I was so enthralled.
The score was brilliant. Cinematography was beautiful.

The only thing that had me second guessing was which decade the director wanted. For the most part it looks like we are in the '80s but when I saw a Lexus SUV in one shot and a newer F-150 in another ...

There is no reason for another film, be it sequel or prequel. I dont need to know what "IT" is or where it came from. That's what makes this film so creepy. It just is and you get to pick up on it along it's path.

Was not aware that Maika Monroe was a professional kiteboarder!

RichC2

Yeah, at the very least she seems like a cool girl, apparently she was going after a few tom boy type roles, both in Labor Day and Echoes of War... The Guest and It Follows had different plans.

Obi-Wanma

There's also the clamshell e-reader that one of them has.

RichC2

I think he commented on going for a "remembered nightmare" style to it. Which basically means anachronisms since that's the way the brain generally works -- it pulls in random things that don't necessarily fit or make sense in a certain timeline.

hanshotfirst1138

It's Maika Morone's birthday today.

Looking forward to seeing this, especially since it was shot locally, but it probably won't be at the Redbox for a few months yet.

Critics really fawned over it, although Kermode was a little lukewarm. I don't know if can deal with another film that reminds me of my lost youth though.

As far as the various anachronisms, I assume it's to deliberately give the film a sense of timelessness.

islandclaws

Sigh. Guess I'm going to be one of the lone voices of dissent.

I did not like this movie.

Look, I'm all for ambiguity and brevity in exposition and letting a film slowly burn. But then there's striking up kindling and allowing it to smolder for far too long before a kernel pops and the flame is extinguished.

This film has a good premise. I thought it was inventive, if not progressively more heavy-handed re: STDs. It played like a horror movie PSA.

So this thing follows her all the time, right? Then why does it seem like there are times it should have caught up to her and it hasn't? So it follows her most of the time, I guess. Can it teleport?

I felt like the film took the first act and stretched it into two. I certainly dug the vibe and the look of the film, great unspecific time period and all, but that isn't enough to maintain my interest or gain my praise.

The ending was a joke.



The score was very strong. Easily elevated the film as much as possible.

I liked the ambiguous ending, too. The film just didn't feel like enough for me. They could have really played with the concept more, instead it feels too small and lacks activity.

Two better ideas:

Jay can see It, but no one else can. How about the film doesn't show It at all? Maybe it's all in her head? Her friends just have to trust her.

Or, have her get in a car and drive. Far. Like, across the country. And make It pursue a bit more aggressively. There were zero moments of tension because it came stalking from so far away and she'd just... run. How exciting.

Maybe I'll give this another day in court sometime. For now, I'd give it a 2/5.

hanshotfirst1138

Where'd you see this? Is it still kicking around some art houses?

islandclaws

Um, it was at a house, and there is some art on the walls, so...

RichC2

You aren't the lone voice of dissent, there's a lot of it. But the movie is ambitious enough in having an actual moral core of not simply passing off this evil to save your own skin, and having actual strategies to it

I think the movie would be more effective if you saw it on cable late at night some day, with no real knowledge of it... so maybe for the next generation.

islandclaws

I do admire the movie's ambition, but that, too, can only take a picture so far. STARRY EYES is a great example of a film I admire but it strung its audience along too much. I wanted IT FOLLOWS to do more with what it presented. To me, it simply isn't scary if something is stalking a person and... not doing much else. The beach scene was something I wanted more of - seeing this thing's power and abilities, posing a true threat.

MysterioMan007

I really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was excellent. Loved the timeless feel, the music, the tension. Yeah, there were a few strategies they could have employed, but overall, the movie was fantastic.

hanshotfirst1138

. I'm waiting on the DVD, so....

Norm de Plume

Watched this about a week ago. I'm with those who expected more based on the rhapsodic notices. I thought it was exceedingly well-directed, the performances were solid, and it had a marvellous old-school music score, but I just couldn't relate to the agent of terror. It didn't make sense and thus I didn't find it frightening at all, which is the central purpose of a horror film. The picture reminded me quite a bit of 1983's Sole Survivor, but that movie is better.
Also, as much as I liked the retro tone (not a fucking iPhone or strangulated-voiced, ironic, pseudo-intellectual bimbo in sight; lots of old cars), I didn't quite get why it was purporting to be set in the '80s when it clearly wasn't.

hanshotfirst1138

I think that stew of different aesthetics is a deliberate attempt to make it feel timeless. What is a "strangulated-voiced, ironic, pseudo-intellectual bimbo?" I need an example.

I'd never heard of Sole Survivor, the premise sounds similar. Or maybe Carnival of Souls. Say, has the latter ever gotten a BD release?

How's everyone seeing this? It doesn't even appear to have been released digitally yet.

TomOpus

I paid to see it in a theater.

hanshotfirst1138

It's come and gone from anywhere near me.

The Black

What gets me wondering:

Solid Snake

I'm not sure how people don't easily see/accept that the world created is timeless and all inclusive of the past and the now. The fact that the director made it work in a very natural/passive manner was very smart of him. Makes it feel real instead of trying to build a foundation for it, you're just in it and it feels natural.

Solid Snake

based on the culture, stereotypically, it isn't that amazing either that they'd fuck w/o a condom sometimes.

hanshotfirst1138

Mitchell has apparently said in interviews that condoms wouldn't stop it. I would sincerely hope that pretty much everyone uses them nowadays in our "hookup culture." Gawd.

Fuck, now I want to see this.

RichC2

Yeah I was curious of that too.

Norm de Plume

Most horror since at least Scream (for which I have a lot of affection as a scary movie) has that "(wink, wink) we're in on it" conceit, and the dialogue is almost always too clever by half, and thus unnatural. Oh how I miss the Laurie Strodes of the horror world, who talked about boys, sex, homework, exams, annoying classmates, strict parents, etc.
Girls (and even women) with strangulated voices are a phenomenon of the past 20 years or so, and they long ago seeped into the cultural output. Either that, or they started there. My theory is, it has a strong correlation with the cachet of modern irony, the self-distancing to seem above it all. So, to that effect, girls and women restrain their voices and don't enunciate properly, thinking they sound cool and detached and indifferent, when they actually sound retarded. As far as I know, this is strictly a North American phenomenon. Thankfully, I think it has started to recede. Why, I don't know.
Here's a discussion of the "strangulated voice" on a forum, and no one seems to have a firm handle on where, when, or why it started.
Actually, the premise isn't at all similar, but the feel is.