Expanding Engagements

Regular readers of the World of Stu facebook page will be aware that I am a man of opinion that is not afraid to share my views on the good, the bad and the ugly of the universe of moviedom.

I have posted reviews on a variety of films ranging from the latest Transformers abomination to the Hunger Games by way of all that makes up the MCU.

It seems to me however that the place to writing these reviews is of course right here on my very own website and so with that in mind here is my first website exclusive movie review.

The film in question is It Follows which is as you may or may not know is a little horror flick that was released in 2014. It is directed by David Robert Mitchell in only his third directorial outing and he doubles down here with writing duties too.

It stars (as is so often the case in this genre, especially when it comes to new directors on the block) a group of relatively unknown young actors who are all placed in a prime position to be offed at any given moment by the big bad monster whatever it may be. Except that's not strictly true in this case as only certain individuals are eligible for killing but we will cover this plot point as we go.

The film begins with a teenage girl running out of her house (I could look up the name of the character but it has no real bearing on the film and as is normally the case the characters are fairly nondescript and interchangable) and standing in the middle of the road. Her dad comes out to see whats occuring but she runs back inside, grabs the car keys and drives off, clearly scared of something we cannot see.

We next see her sat on a beach ringing her dad to tell him she loves him as we get another camera shot of nothing to show us that whatever it is thats after her has caught up. Jumping forward to the next morning we find that she is very very dead.

This then brings us to our main group of protagonists who are quietly going about their business of humdrumery until one of them has a slightly odd experience with her boyfriend in the cinema. Not that this puts her off however as the next time they are together she has no qualms about having sex with him. This turns out not to be the smartest move she has ever pulled as the moment they're done he knocks her ass out. When she comes too she is tied to a wheelie chair in an abandoned warehouse where it is explained to her that he has slept with her in order to pass on a 'curse' of sorts. That's right the boogeyman in this film is basicallynothing more than a supernatural STD (or is that STI in the year 2015?). The curse was passed to him and now he has passed it to her, now that's real love that is.

Not that this matters however as it transpires that if she dies the ghost or whatever it is will just go back to trying to kill his candy ass anyway. Oh and despite his passing of the torch he remains haunted by visions of the ghost though it is never made clear whether he now only sees it but doesn't need to fear it or not, for the sake of clarity in this argument lets say he doesn't.

It should also be noted that the ghost walks really slow, like really really slow and not in a particularly menacing manner either, no this is certainly no Voorhees or Myers thats for sure. Oh and it can also change appearence to look like anyone it likes which is nice as it gives more actors some working which can only be a good thing.

So the girl doesn't believe him until she starts seeing weird people following her around (all either naked for no apparent reason other than to get some nudity on screen, or wearing the same tasteful vest and pants ensemble. She of course has some run ins with the thing whilst trying to convince her friends whats going on though of course they see nothing so probably just think shes losing it.

They soon come round to her way of thinking however during an altercation on a beach. You see the girl hasn't seen the ghost sneaking up on her and so we get some ludicrous special effects where her hair lifts up seemingly on its own as ghosty resorts to schoolyard tactics rather than just grabbing her by the throat. One of her friends swings a deckchair which breaks in mid air on ghosties back causing ghosty to send them flying across the beach. Eventually the girl escapes in a car but crashes and ends up in hospital.

Whilst there she opts to have sex with one of the male members of the group who doesn't buy into the whole ghosty thing and is just looking to sow his wild oats. He is later seen chatting up the ladies in the school canteen but again it's not made clear how many if any of them he sleeps with to pass on the curse. I'm going to assume none as before long he is killed by ghosty who appears to him in the form of his mother who has some sort of intercourse with him as the film spirals further into the mire of sexual conduct.

The remaining gang head off to a swimming pool which they surround with electrical items before the girl gets in and awaits ghosty. The plan you see is to lure ghosty in and then electrocute his sorry ass. This goes awray however when he appears (in the form of the girls dad), assesses the situation and just decides to throw items into the pool to try and turn the cards on his victim.

A quick sheet thrown over the head of ghosty and a bullet to the head seems to bring matters to a close though this is a horror film and things are never as them seem as ghosty grabs the girl and pulls her under the water. ONe more bullet to the brain puts it to bed however though the girl sees the pool turn red with ghosties blood.

She then goes on to have sex with her nerdy friend who has been pining for her for years and the film ends with the two of them walking down the street hand in hand.

Now I watched this film based on the recommendation of a friend of my wifes and I will confess that I was looking forward to it as I hoped it would be another in a line (as small as it may be) of new horror movies that are seeming to breathe new life into the genre. Unfortunately in the case of It Follows I could be nothing but disappointed.

It's clear that the makers of this film are fans of the big horror movies on the 1970's and 80's and that this film is almost a homage to what has come before. In fact this film is so filled with John Carpenteresque themes and moments that you have to wonder if the great man was paid royalties. From the sound to the camera work this film shouts out its desire to be Halloween though it falls well short of the mark.

The acting is not bad and the ambience is ok though is more than a tad overdone, in fact it almost reaches the point of self parody. The plot has holes in it that don't make much sense and maybe if Mitchell had worked harder on that and put less effort into emulating classic films then It Follows may have been a better viewing experience.

What it is however is an effort which is no better that alright and on more than one occasion it drags and comes across as incredibly dull and boring. With all of this in mind I will give It Follows 5 out of 10.