It Follows

My week of vacation has started.  And I'm going nowhere.  My plan is to get a ton of chores done, a lot of writing, and just generally relax.  Any going somewhere will have to wait for July and October.  But I really do intend to have an interesting week in the context of sticking around, even if it's taxes, making chili, reading, and doing some college phone screens for intern and new grad candidates.  Might not sound exciting, but you'll see.

So I started the whole week off last night by walking over to the 10:25 It Follows.  One of the nice things about my suburban life is that my house is near Target, Cub, and the movie theater.  It used to be near an ice cream shop (I miss Ring Mountain) and there are coffee shops, although they're not my coffee shops of preference.  So walking, even at 10:25 p.m. (and 1:00 a.m. with a stop at Cub for juice) is an option.  Chilly here still, but not so bad it wasn't a nice way to finish the evening.

I liked It Follows.  The teenage boys in the audience didn't seem to given their discussion on the way out.  But the fact that they were having a spirited discussion about what it meant and that it was driven by STD...if it got them talking about the merits of the movie, it couldn't have been that bad.  It felt a little old school.  No seriously creepy monsters (not in the traditional sense).  No slashing.  Just a nice, slow, reveal of more and more about what was following Jay, punctuated with proof that it wasn't in her head - some actual physical interaction with her friends - and some music/sound that was really superb.  At one point the noise from the television blended into the background sound in a way that was impressive.  When I explained it to my wife, I said the music/sound reminded of someone else, the guy who did Ghosts of Mars and Prince of Darkness.  Carpenter.  The sound was reminiscent of Carpenter, but better.

So well done.  Obvious avoidance of product placement.  No big name actors to distract.  Some realistic dialogue and behavior on the part of the teens.  A slow reveal without startling, so actually rather creepy.  Great, creepy sounds without an annoying music soundtrack (refer back to product placement).  Just a touch of moralizing.  An ode to cinema I remember from my youth in both style and sound.  It didn't scare me, but I definitely was happy I went.