Yes, its frustrating when the film fails to answer vital questions, but often the answers are there if you just pay attention. The group plans to kill the entity by luring it into a swimming pool and dropping electrical appliances into the water. Jay's friends ward it off by breaking a chair over its body and Jay shoots it several times until it falls over, but it recovers unharmed and attacks Jay again, this time taking the form of a boy who lives next door to Jay. There are other clues given to us purely through storytelling and small details rather than having the characters get right up in your face and shout what youre supposed to know. When teens have sex, a monster kills them. Box Office: 'Exotic Marigold' Sequel Topples 'Fifty Shades', "It Follows, review: 'tender, ingenious and scalp-prickingly scary', "Toronto 2014, Day One: Judging Robert Downey Jr., catching up with Locarno and Cannes", "Why "It Follows" is the best horror movie in over a decade", "It Follows: 'Love and sex are ways we can push death away', "No Safe Space: Economic Anxiety and Post-Recession Spaces in Horror Films", "Don't Let It Touch You: Watching It Follows in the Age of Coronavirus", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=It_Follows&oldid=1136363944, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2016, Articles with MusicBrainz release group identifiers, Articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Lili Sepe as Kelly Height, Jaime's sister, Bailey Spry as Annie Marshall, one of the entity's victims, Debbie Williams as Mrs. Sure, its a very cool way to set up a new universe, but its also extremely off-putting whether you realize it or not. Seeing as how Jay and Paul are seen walking down the street holding hands in the films closing scene, it looks like the two end up together. Height. After years of waiting, this is the ending of It Follows, finally explained. It received acclaim from critics; praise was directed at the films originality and Monroes performance. Jay responds, "I don't want to tell you." Did you also notice that again, except for the last shot of her in Jays bedroom, her mother is always day drinking? Related: All 30 Forms IT Takes in Stephen King's Original Novel. But I do want to say that when I wrote this, I had some bigger set pieces, a few things that I sort of simplified, and some stuff that we chose to cut out because of the budget and time, so there's all kinds of fun things that could be done with this concept and story. Well, the pan beyond Jays mother shows an older family photo. (Which I want. But when it finally has you cornered, it takes on its final form. She was well-dressed, perhaps ready to go out, when IT finally got close enough for her to realize it was a threat and she just bolted, ill-equipped footwear be damned. Also from the Detroit area and It made the movie that much creepier. Even though Pauls crush on Jay is evident from the start, the latter is clearly not interested in dating her childhood friend, who is a far cry from the hunky boys she seemingly goes out with. "[7] The role that sexual transmission plays came later, from Mitchell's desire for something that could transfer between people. Even from a far-off distance, the wide angles elicit an exposed vulnerability that builds dread. In the aftermath of the traumatic event, Jay attempts to resume normalcy and attends class. She then undresses and walks into the water, though it is unclear if she does anything with them. The gist of the passage is basically, "And the most terrible agony may not be in the wound themselves but in knowing for certain that your soul will leave your body, and you will no longer be a person, and that this is certain. On her date with Hugh/Jeff, before the two have had sex, he sees a girl in a yellow dress behind them at the movie theater. At dawn, it is revealed that she has been brutally murdered. Family Guy (1999) - S20E03 Must Love Dogs 2.5s - Oh, and cousin Greg! The Follower may also represent the anxiety of STDs, adulthood, the fear of poverty (Yara has an important monologue about Detroit)I've read a slew of interpretations, few of which completely miss the mark. Afterwards, Jaime "Jay" Height goes on a date with her new boyfriend, Hugh, to the movies. It didn't rape Greg to death. This scene marks the first time the eponymous "it" invades Jay's home and personal space. "Why don't they drive to Mexico?" The abruptness of its appearance delivers another potent scare, clocking in just two minutes after the previous encounter.That it comes from a completely different and unlikely spot in Jay's house sends the clear message that Death can come from anywhere at any time. Related: Every Form Chucky Has Taken In The Child's Play Series. This scene is one of the most horrifying of the movie, so visceral, so brutal, so disturbed and so difficult to mention that after my boyfriend and I walked out of the movie for the first time, we didn't even talk about it for most of our conversation. Try watching it through again; its an entirely different experience once you know what youre looking for. From the moment Jay's neighbor Greg began offering her help, it was clear he was attracted to her. Did Hugh give the curse to anyone before Jay? So Yara's quote clearly demonstrates how both these works have mortality on their mind. That wouldn't have any immediate significance to Jay but could be one last taunt directed at its previous target. Is it a demon? 0. "[25] Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph gave the film five out of five stars and said, "With its marvellously suggestive title and thought-provoking exploration of sex, this indie chiller is a contemporary horror fan's dream come true. It's easy to overlook who this is during a normal It Follows viewing, but it's Jay's neighbor, the one who was leering at her while she relaxed in the pool. There are a few different theories at play here allow me to explain. Other horror movies make an impression. Since it relentlessly follows and kills whoever is most recently infected and then goes after whoever was infected before them, it is only a matter of time before Jay is in danger again. [3], It Follows received critical acclaim. Mmm sorry but Word of God did confirm that It rapes to death, is just that the movie probably wasn't going to show it because it would be too graphic, is PG-13 if IIRC. But behind them, it looks nothing like fall or even winter. It's never stated who he is, but it seems like a pretty safe assumption that this man is Jay and Kelly's father. Hugh explains that he has passed an entity on to her through intercourse. [21] On Rotten Tomatoes' aggregation, it was ranked as the sixth most-praised film of the year, and the ninth most-praised horror film of the 2010s. It was released theatrically in France on February 4, 2015 and in the United Kingdom on February 27. Greg Strasz . [17] That same day, the film also received a limited release in Canada by Mongrel Media. It can look like a stranger or someone she knows, only she can see it, and if it ever catches her, she will die. The Old Maid cards Paul, Kelly, and Yara play with on the porch look like theyre from the 1940s-1950s. She turns and is faced with a disheveled woman her age, her clothes torn and missing teeth. Therefore, Paul is most likely the person that the entity is following at the end, and if he dies, then Jay is next on the list of victims. They then cover it with a sheet, and Paul shoots it once more, causing it to fall into the pool. She's doomed to keep one eye out for Death, who will consistently come for her in the form of friends and strangers alike unless she passes it on to another sexual partner. ", Now for the biggest question of all, what is It? Unlike many horror film protagonists, Jay and her friends are also unusually empathetic and supportive of one another in an uncaring world. After Jay has slept with Greg, a ball is seen bouncing from the direction of Jay's house towards Greg's house. Put these elements together and youve got all the makings for a film thats not just scary but extremely unsettling. By passing it along and abusing someone else. Hugh's claims are proven accurate when a naked woman appears and walks straight for Jay. Therefore, we can piece together that the entity has taken on the likeness of the girls father. Your pulse never changes during the initial viewing, and a week later, you barely remember the experience. In fact, It Follows is an anti-victim blaming masterpiece that gives a huge middle finger to the genre's antiquated approach to sex. Not hearing Jay's pleas, Greg opens the door and the entity pounces on him. Jay strips down and starts swimming towards the boat. It Follows: Plot Summary College student Jay begins dating Hugh, a sweet but strange boy. But not only this: it's the shame that follows you for the rest of your life, that shame reminding you that death is always around the corner, closer, closer. This is probably the most easily recognized clue because of one thing thats blatantly pointed out to us: the infamous clamshell e-reader. In a couple of the photographs, you'll see that same bearded man. There is a ton of crappy horror movies out there and this isn't one of them. It's scary because, no matter what you do, eventually, it will catch you. It doesnt exist. With the help of their neighbor, Greg Hannigan, the group discovers Hugh's real name Jeff Redmond and traces him to his address. The entity is a slow moving, unstoppable monster that is always walking towards you, and if it catches you, you die. We just made it up. It's simply unfortunate that Greg was cornered when The Follower was in the guise of his mother. The kitchen in Jays house is straight out of the 1970s, down to the ugly orange-and-avocado-colored appliances. "[7] Mitchell said that while Jaime "opens herself up to danger through sex, the one way in which she can free herself from that danger We're all here for a limited amount of time and we can't escape our mortality but love and sex are two ways in which we can at least temporarily push death away. Another idea explored throughout The Idiotis death, and how proximity to and awareness of death changes people. It's then that we enter into the film's thrilling and terrifying climax. Jay, waiting in the pool, spots the entity and realizes it has taken the appearance of her deceased father. It stars Maika Monroe as a young woman who is pursued by a supernatural entity after a sexual encounter and must have sex with another individual to avoid it. Though it is left unclear whether Paul passes on the curse, in the end, it is irrelevant because we see the entity following him and Jay in the films closing scene. No way, I dont think so. As she bolts past another house, there are clearly pumpkins on the porch. His identity is also confirmed by a family photo. When she does this, we see that the lawns on the other side of the street are littered with leaves and the trees have started to turn. Since he also doesn't believe her about the It Follows entity's curse, he's happy to make the "chivalrous" offer to sleep with her and take the curse off her hands. Jeff's mother answers the door and Jay realizes that the naked woman she had seen coming for her in the Packard Plant was in the form of Mrs. Redmond. So what's up? "Whether it's an 'It Follows' sequel or something else, I think he's so insanely talented.". Yara stands relaxed and sleepily in the doorway of Jay's bedroom, inquiring about the commotion. In a way, the It of It Follows ends up being the scariest monster in horror film history, because from a certain point of view, it's real, and one day, it really will get you. That IT has a physical body. The following week, the film dropped two spots to #10 with a weekend gross of $346,005 (229,927) from 240 screens. Shortly after he gets the curse, there's a scene when Greg is hanging out and flirting with a group of girls. visual effects supervisor (uncredited) Stunts . Alone, Jay cautiously makes her way to the kitchen to see the damage for herself. The film doesnt go out of its way to tie things up and ends on a sinister note. Next, we saw Greg's mom, who breaks his neck and then rapes him. In terms of whether or not the creature is truly dead, the film doesn't say. Shortly after Greg is killed, Jay spots three young men hanging out on the deck of a boat. She takes her parents' car and drives to the beach, where she tearfully tells her father over the phone that she loves him. It Follows: Explained (Plot Analysis And Ending) Zaraki Kenpachi September 7, 2021 The first film of It Follows was released in 2014, and many other horror movies have since been made based on its story. Then, in the final scene of the film, we see the two of them walking down the road together. The moment of relief gets punctuated by a music sting and the startling appearance of a tall man from the darkened room just behind Yara. The film never lays down definitive rules for how the creature works, so if you want to poke holes, it's defenseless. That tendency may not be entirely born of sadism, as in a few cases it also seems to be trying to confuse its victim long enough to get caught. It Follows is a 2014 American supernatural psychological horror film written and directed by David Robert Mitchell. Because of this trauma, Jay becomes "haunted" by the event, represented by a monster that now follows her. uses wide angles and a disorienting setting to unsettle before delivering a one-two punch scare for the ages. Obviously, whatever IT is, the monster is spooky in more ways than one. Here's a guide toIt Follows entity's every form it takes in the movie. Same man, basically same age, but shes a child. Jay, unable to sleep, heads downstairs to watch TV with Paul. The woman edges closer as she urinates. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. However, Greg underestimates It Follows ' scary curse, and following his death scene, the curse goes right back to Jay. Rather than walking into the pool so that Jay's friends can electrocute it, It starts picking up the various devices and hurling them at Jay. Following The Babadook (2014), The Conjuring (2013), and Insidious (2010), It Follows is the next big thing when it comes to horror. Scott Norman (Homeless Man Behind Tree)-/5. Hes obviously absent from the house. However, three days later, he ends up dead. It's the precise type of scene that would otherwise allow the viewer a moment to soothe their rapid pulse. Again, the tall man doesn't look like any other character seen in the movie, so outside of being scary, the significance of this form to Jay is unclear. 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