For about as long as we have been sentient, there have been stories designed to stir a reaction – laughter and melancholy are some of the more common ones, and we also see efforts to mystify and enthrall in many cases. However, by far the most fascinating form of artistic expression, at least in terms of how it is designed to evoke a particular emotion, is that which sets out to scare the audience. Fear is an intriguing concept, something that draws on the most primal, internal anxieties that we all possess in some form. Over time, horror has undergone some bold changes, adapting to different audiences and how the public responds to works crafted to terrify and unsettle. A decade ago, we were introduced to a movement that has crudely been called “elevated horror”, defined by works that are supposedly smarter and contain more meaning, and where fear is used not purely to stir a reaction, but also to provoke some kind of thought, which is the very foundation for some brilliant and daring works, even if such a term can imply other films lack intelligence or nuance. One of the cornerstone entries into this movement is It Follows, the second directorial outing for David Robert Mitchell, someone who has shown a fondness for genre-based narratives, and who leaps horror, telling the story of a young woman who finds herself pursued by an unseen entity after a one-night-stand, plunging her into a state of existential panic as she flees for her safety, despite this sinister force never being too far behind. A bit of a sensation at the time, and a film that has aged exceptionally well as time has progressed, It Follows is an understandably major achievement in the horror genre, challenging the confines set by many similar-themed films released in previous decades, leaving a stark impression that lingers on with the viewer long after the film has ended.

There is certainly no shortage of interpretations for It Follows, a film that pulsates with deeper meaning, to the point where the majority of conversation around it has to do with attempting to decode the many challenging ideas that the director embeds into the film. To discuss one essentially precludes us from covering the dozens of others that have circulated in conversations about this film – there have been theories that it is as much about sexually-transmitted disease (the most prominent theory, and one that does bear the most weight based on some tremendous analysis over the past decade) to an allegory for the fears of growing up, done through a very bold approach to the coming-of-age narrative structure. Every interpretation is valid to an extent – but this isn’t what makes It Follows such an intriguing piece of cinema, and we instead find that every merit contained within this film has to do with the execution of its ideas, which are deeply unsettling and profoundly compelling. Fear is a concept that has fascinated us for as long as we have been telling stories – horror is the one genre that we can trace back to the antiquity, with even the most ancient works of mythology being built around the conflict between the human world and the sinister forces that linger in the supernatural realm. I’ve often discussed that the very core of horror is built around a very simple concept – we are not afraid of what we can see, but rather the danger that lingers in the shadows, the idea that something is standing just out of our sight, waiting to pounce when we are at our most vulnerable. It Follows is one of the clearest and most well-crafted examinations of this idea, since the entire purpose of the film is to present us with a mostly unseen villain, its physical form constantly changing – we never receive any explanation as to what this sinister entity is or what it represents, but rather where the ideas communicated are far less obvious, requiring a more complex approach to its central themes.

It Follows is certainly not a film that intends to make everything easy for the viewer – it contains several layers that we may consider somewhat impenetrable, and the lack of answers does become quite noticeable, particularly in the climactic moments, where a less-ambitious director may have been more inclined to provide at least some kind of conclusion that ties everything together neatly. Mitchell is very clearly singularly disinterested in convenience, both for his own personal endeavours and in terms of the viewer – and on our part, we have to be entirely prepared to engage with this film on a much deeper and more complicated level if we intend to have any sense of understanding of the labyrinthine themes with which Mitchell is working. The core of the film is based around its atmosphere, rather than taking the more obvious approach (whereby the film would be peppered with cheap jump scares and graphic violence), the director chooses to take a more subtle approach. The entire film is propelled by its atmosphere – there are very few moments of traditional horror, with Mitchell drawing on the mood as the primary method of communicating these ideas. It’s a very bleak film and certainly not one that ever intends to contain much optimism – all hope is extinguished from the start, and we find that the visual aesthetic, where suburban Michigan is portrayed as a grey, colourless wasteland, only contributes to the uneasy feeling that we experience throughout. The aural landscape is just as important to setting the mood of the film – the subtle but unsettling score is very effective in conveying the sense of inescapable danger, and only emphasises the terror felt by these characters. Mitchell’s greatest asset as a filmmaker is his ability to show restraint, never feeling impelled to overexplain or provide information where it isn’t explicitly necessary, and allows the audience to draw their conclusions based on the material and its underlying implications.

One of the more underpraised aspects of It Follows is the fact that it introduced us to Maika Monroe, who has gone on to become one of the most original and daring actors of her generation, a mainstay of the horror genre, appearing in several exceptional works over the past decade. To her credit, the character of Jay in this film is not particularly easy to interpret – she is much more of a cypher than we may expect, and represents several different archetypes, all of which are compressed into a single character. Her performance is wonderful, as she can capture the fear and despair likely experienced by this young woman with such extraordinary skill, never being anything less than wholeheartedly compelling and committed to the process of creating this unforgettable protagonist. She’s joined by a strong supporting cast, which is mostly comprised of similarly-young and less-famous actors (at least at the time, since many of them have grown substantially over the last decade), with the likes of Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Olivia Luccardi and Jake Weary being fantastic additions to the ensemble, bringing out the inherent fear and danger that surrounds this film, and making invaluable contributions to the film and its many bizarre and captivating ideas. It’s not a character-based film in the traditional sense, since every one of these individuals is designed to be more of a thinly-veiled archetype, particularly in the clear references to classic works of slasher horror (which Mitchell certainly seemed to view as something of an influence), but the strength of their performances, and the fact that everyone seems to be entirely committed to the offbeat premise, makes It Follows an unexpectedly strong piece of acting, which was not at all a requirement, but a welcome surprise.

Over a decade later, and It Follows still remains quite an enigmatic work – Mitchell has not undergone the massive ascent to the status of revolutionary auteur as some expected (although this is more to do with audiences not being receptive to his work, as well as his slower pace of producing films – Under the Silver Lake remains one of the absolute best films of the past decade), and the fact that the director resisted the temptation to immediately make a sequel – which is currently in development, with the decade in between the films likely to yield much more interesting results rather than just being a mangled attempt to capitalise on the unexpected success of the original work – being sources of a lot of polarising reactions. Yet, taken for what it is, It Follows is nonetheless a challenging and worthwhile piece of contemporary horror – it does not aim for the obvious tropes, and instead takes many classic genres (such as slasher horror, psychological thriller and supernatural drama) and extracts their key qualities, creating a more offbeat collage of ideas, piecing together various elements to construct a daring and provocative work that never has to resort to cheap scares, and instead relies on its atmosphere to instill a sense of genuine dread and despair in the viewer. As a whole, It Follows is an immense achievement, a challenging and unconventional work of horror that may be an acquired taste, but yet still has more than enough merit all on its own to earn its place in the conversation when we look at how the genre is constantly reinventing itself, finding new and exciting ways to challenge conventions and create something unforgettable in the process.