It Follows (2014, USA)

I do feel sorry for sexually active American youth, not only do they have to worry about angry gun toting parents, pregnancy and STDs but also a whole host of machete wielding psychopaths and supernatural entities who just don’t approve at all of a bit of premarital nookie, In the case of David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, which has just been released as a spiffing Limited edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray by Second Sight Films, we find high school student Jay (Maika Monroe) shagging new boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary) in his car.

Well I think we all know this will end badly and sure enough Jay discovers that Hugh far from being the caring cute guy she thinks he is has passed on a shapeshifting supernatural creature that aims to kill the person who has just acquired it and Jay’s only choice is to either outrun it or pass the beastie on to the next person she has sex with. Fortunately the beast can only move at walking speed and appears to be at least temporarily vulnerable to weapons, but only Jay can see it. Then if it kills the most recently shagged person to whom it is passed it starts working its way back down the line so Jay’s options are limited.

What’s a girl to do, well how about getting together with her sisters and the boy next door to give the beast a bit of a beating? Sounds good to me.

Well despite a bit of a slow start It Follows soon hits the groove as a throughly entertaining supernatural shocker with more than a few decent jump scares and some neat special effects. I quite like the way that only Jay could see the monster but the effects of what the creature was doing were visible to all resulting in some often comedic moments and unintentional wounding! At one point there is an absolutely delicious Forbidden Planet Monsters of the Id moment when the gang face the monster down at the local pool, that sort of stuff never happens at Places Leisure in my home town.

A supernatural shocker with an original premise and some genuinely scary moments we give It Follows a 666/666. On our Daily Mail offence scale there is teenage sex, threat, nudity, swearing and booze, all good things.

Special Features 

• Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs
• Second Sight Films 4K master produced in conjunction with the original post production facility
• Approved by director David Robert Mitchell
• UHD presented in Dolby Vision HDR
• New Dolby Atmos audio track produced by Second Sight Films
• New audio commentary by Joshua Grimm
• Audio commentary by Danny Leigh and Mark Jancovich
• Chasing Ghosts: a new interview with actor Keir Gilchrist
• Following: a new interview with actor Olivia Luccardi
• It’s in the House: an interview with Producer David Kaplan
• Composing a Masterpiece: an interview with composer Rich Vreeland
• A Girl’s World: an interview with production designer Michael Perry
• It Follows – The Architecture of Loneliness: a video essay by Joseph Wallace

Limited Edition Contents

• Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Thinh Dinh
• 150 page book with new essays by Anne Billson, Martyn Conterio, Kat Ellinger, Eugenio Ercolani, Matt Glasby, Kat Hughes, Jennie Kermode and Katie Rife
• Six collectors’ art cards