It Follows (****1/2)

For horror movies nowadays, it seems like they need to become more and more innovative in order to succeed. The simple slasher films from the 70's and 80's have fallen by the wayside, and it's clear that filmmakers are trying to find ideas that still create the same sense of dread and fear. I remember my first time seeing "Halloween" as a child. I was pinned to the chair and overflowing with a sense of fear I have yet to feel again. The idea that an unstoppable force will stop at nothing to kill you seems pretty basic, but even here with "It Follows," the thrill of Michael Myers has taken new form.

I praise David Robert Mitchell, the director, for taking such a novel approach to such a repetitive concept. How many killers in movies have we seen walking slowly towards their victim, and even when we yell "run!" or spout our own ideas of how to evade the villain, they are still caught and killed in the most cliched fashion? It's Michael Myers: though he walks slowly with a knife and mask, he always catches up, no matter how fast Jamie Lee Curtis runs away. Here, the evil still moves slowly, but no matter how far away you get or how much time you buy, we still know that 'it' is constantly moving straight for you, slowly and surely...

It all begins with sex, perhaps the other cliche of the horror genre today: if you have sex, you die. With "It Follows," again it completely reinvigorates the idea. Instead of a curse, the characters who have sex are instead plagued by this phantom evil like an STD, and only by 'passing it on' are you temporarily cured.

It's hard to explain the story without ruining it, and in fact I was overly thrilled with this movie because I hadn't learned too much about it prior to watching. Aside from a few decisions made in regards to the depiction of evil in this movie (the idea that it is tangible to the point of being harmed by bullets is questionable), I found the movie a brilliant homage to the teen slasher films of the 1970's and a beautiful tribute to the one that started it all: "Halloween." From the synthetic soundtrack to the retro art direction and promiscuity, "It Follows" is a hell of a good time.

(Awards potential: Best Original Score)