Countdown, Day 19: It Follows

It could look like someone you know or it could be a stranger in a crowd. Whatever helps it get close to you.

It Follows (2014, dir. David Robert Mitchell) is one of the best horror movies of the last few years. It’s stylish and scary and revises the Final Girl horror trope in interesting ways. As in many of my favorites, its score is particularly effective, too. There’s one sequence in the middle of the film where the score ratchets up the tension over such a long period of time and so gradually that I got physically anxious watching it – but without a clear source for that anxiety at first. I very nearly had to pause the movie to recover. I’m still proud of myself that I persevered without pausing.

Earlier countdown entries:

1. Night of the Living Dead, dir. George Romero (1968)
2. Dawn of the Dead, dir. George Romero (1978)
3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, dir. Philip Kaufman (1978)
4. Get Out, dir. Jordan Peele (2017)
5. Hellraiser, dir. Clive Barker (1987)
6. Psycho, dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1960)
7. The Birds, dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1963)
8. Jaws, dir. Steven Spielberg (1975)
9. Teeth, dir. Mitchell Lichtenstein (2007)
10. Candyman, dir. Bernard Rose (1992)
11. Creep, dir. Patrick Brice (2014)
12. The Wicker Man, dir. Robin Hardy (1973)
13. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, dir. Tobe Hooper (1974)
14. Cabin in the Woods, dir. Drew Goddard (2012)
15. Suspiria, dir. Dario Argento (1977)
16. The Witch, dir. Robert Eggers (2015)
17. Rosemary’s Baby, dir. Roman Polanski (1968)
18. The Babadook, dir. Jennifer Kent (2014)