The Film: ★★★★★
If you’re in almost any horror film, from Friday the 13th to Alien: Covenant, you probably know that the one thing you’re best off avoiding doing is having sex. It’s such a well-established trope that it’s frequently been inverted and otherwise played with, from the self-referential Scream, to the only-the-virgins-die Cherry Falls, to the STD-rotted Cabin Fever. It Follows presents another twist on this formula, one near-brilliant in its simplicity: you have sex with a person. That person – most likely unbeknownst to you – has “It” following them. “It” is now following you, and won’t stop following you, ever, until you’re dead (cf. The Terminator, though It Follows owes its visuals and atmosphere more to Halloween), whereupon it’ll revert to following the person you contracted “It” from. And that’s it; that’s the whole thing. But, like the best horror films, the simplicity of the surface-level story belies the thoughtfulness with which it invokes and explores the nightmare world. And unlike, say, Cabin in the Woods or Get Out, It Follows doesn’t feel the pathological need to point out to you how clever it’s being. Taken solely at face value, this is a brilliantly-crafted and unashamedly mainstream horror film, and a damned scary one too – one that remains with the viewer, nearly ten years on, far more than the likes of Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, Annabelle, As Above So Below, or any of the other now near-forgotten films that it was released alongside.
Audio and visuals: ★★★★★
It Follows‘ deep blues and vivid oranges look absolutely stunning here; in fact, this is one of the best-looking Blu-Rays I’ve ever seen, even if the blacks could perhaps stand to be blacker. The sound, as you may expect, does a fine job in showing off Disasterpiece’s score.
Presentation: ★★★★☆
Look, It Follows has a great score, OK? No-one’s arguing, so I don’t need it blasting away on a loop over the menu. That aside, it’s a predictably fine package, with the usual full-length book of essays and set of six art cards.
Extras: ★★★★★
The focus of this release seems very much on establishing It Follows as a modern classic; a serious film that it’s OK – strongly encouraged, in fact – for the beard-strokers to enjoy. Two commentaries are offered; the first features one American academic, while the second features two British academics. The American, Joshua Grimm, offers a mixture of insights into the film’s cinematographic and directorial techniques, which are very well-considered, and some goofball humour, which lightens the mood quite effectively. The Brits, Danny Leigh and Mark Jancovich, begin the film by very seriously analysing – and sometimes, perhaps over-analysing – the thematic content of the picture, and around halfway through seem to be overcome by their sheer love of the picture, and instead just enthuse about all the great scenes that they like, and other films they like, and great scenes in other films, et cetera – which is pleasantly dorky, though the American track is certainly the superior one. Inevitably, the presence of two tracks does lead to some redundancy between the two. Interviews include “Chasing Ghosts: an interview Actor Keir Gilchrist” (who plays Paul), “Following: an interview with Actor Olivia Luccardi” (Yara), “It’s in the House: an interview with Producer David Kaplan” – in which he discusses hypothetically licensing the “shellphone” used by Yara in the film – and, the best of the bunch, “Composing a Masterpiece: an interview with Composer Rich Vreeland AKA Disasterpiece”, as well as “A Girl’s World: an interview with Production Designer Michael Perry”. Finally, there is a short but well-thought-out video essay, “It Follows: The Architecture of Loneliness”, which considers the decay of urban Detroit and its representation, literal and thematic, in the film (see also: Don’t Breathe, Barbarian).
Overall: ★★★★★
Is It Follows a modern classic in the making, or merely an example of fine horror craftsmanship? If you buy this set, you’ll likely walk away convinced that it’s the former.