Win A Coll Limited edition It Follows T-Shirt

The breakout film from the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, IT FOLLOWS is a contemporary horror Maika Monroe), the fall should be about school, boys and weekends at the lake. But after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, she finds herself plagued by strange visions and the inescapable sense that someone, or something, is following her. Faced with this burden, Jay and her teenage friends must find a way to escape the horrors that seem to be only a few steps behind.

exploring teen sex, suburbia, and the stuff of nightmares – a cult classic in the making from one of the most exciting filmmaking talents around. For 19-year-old Jay (It Follows is coming to UK and Irish cinemas 27th February.You can read our Sundance review of the It Follows Here

We have one limited edition It Follows T-shirt to give away, courtesy of Icon Film Distribution. To be the lucky winner of the T-shirt please answer the following question...

Q.Name David Robert Mitchell's debut feature film he release din 2010?

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Film Review - It Follows (2015)

Genre:
Horror 
Distributor:
Icon Film Distribution (UK)
Rating: 15 
Running Time: 100 minutes
Release Date:
27th February (UK)
Director:
David Robert Mitchell
Cast:
Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Jake Weary
The newest graduate from the school of mumblecore horror is David Robert Mitchell's It Follows which blends the low-key drama of the likes of The Innkeepers with the gut-punching shocks and unrelenting tension and nostalgia of The Guest.

After a strange sexual encounter, Jay (Maika Monroe) finds herself pursued by a supernatural force only visible to her. This relentless force is ever-changing in its human image and is willing to follow Jay continually until it takes her life or the curse is passed on.

The concept of being followed is a fear that immediately strikes a primal nerve with audiences. When It Follows adds the element of anonymity to the force in question, it makes for a relentless and masterfully unnerving watch that forces audiences to examine the people that surround them in everyday life. Using this excruciatingly suspenseful, paranoia-infused concept, Mitchell presents us with an abundance of nerve-shredding set-pieces from harrowing home-break ins (featuring one of the most chilling villain reveals in recent memory) to surprise beach attacks.

This cleverly directed picture forces you to examine each of its many wide-shots - scanning the surrounding areas for any source of terror. Mitchell amazingly manages to make the concept of someone simply walking towards the camera truly terrifying with an immediate frantic fear. With a variety of camera trickery that plays with viewer perspective, Mitchell crafts a watch loaded with continual unease and produces a nervous anticipation amongst viewers as we await the next shocking unveil. The visual design of It Follows is packed with a nostalgia towards the classic horror film where abandoned suburban streets echo the desolate unease of John Carpenter's Halloween locale, Haddonfield. This nostalgia also carries on into its synth-heavy soundtrack and crushing sound design.

Despite the unrelenting tension in the horror-centric sequences, the film's dramatic backbone feels too low-key and occasionally contrived. Dramatic scenes feel tired and can appear lethargic when following the highly-strung genre scenes. An unwanted subplot concerning Jay's best friend's feelings towards her eats away at far too much narrative time, feeling contrived and sucking the energy from the proceedings - well, until the next terrifying unveil. A cluttered conclusion set in an abandoned swimming pool also proves to be another rare misfire for Mitchell - whilst also feeling hypocritical towards already established narrative rules. Fortunately a wide-eyed energy from Maika Monroe keeps things engaging for the most-part.

It Follows is an undeniably impressive contemporary horror that in its best moments will have audiences pinned to their chairs in fear. The tension is so remarkably executed, and the scares so impassionately bold that the weaker dramatic moments are entirely forgivable.

★★★★

Andrew McArthur

Sundance 2015 Review - It Follows (2015)

Win The Guest On DVD

This Christmas Only Invite Dan Stevens On Your Blu-ray With The Guest Home Release

Film Review - The Guest (2014)

Genre:
Psychological Thriller
Distributor:
Icon Distribution
Release Date:
5th September 2014 (UK), 21st August (FF2014)
Rating: 15
Running Time:
99 Minutes
Director:
Adam Winguard
Cast:
Dan Stevens, Maika Munroe, Brenden Meyer, Lance Reddick
Never slow to pick up on the burning issues of the day, the horror genre is always ready to use hot topics to its own benefit. During the days of atomic testing in the 1950s, mutated insects roamed the planet in films like Them (1954). By the late 1970s when space was the new frontier, threats came from beyond the stars in big budget horrors like Alien (1979).

With this in mind it was only a matter of time before contemporary filmmakers looked to a subject which touches all our lives to some extent, for the basis of their work. In the new horror / thriller The Guest (2014) director Adam Wingard does just this, investigating the psychological and emotional effect modern warfare has on soldiers and their families to disturbing effect.

Laura and Spenser Peterson (Sheila Kelley and Leland Orser), along with their teenage children Anna (Maika Monroe) and Luke (Brendan Meyre), are struggling to accept the death of their older son Caleb in the war in Afghanistan. When ex-soldier David (Dan Stevens) appears on their doorstep one morning, claiming to be a friend of their dead son, Laura and Spenser find a sense of connection with Caleb by welcoming the stranger into their home. But is David all he seems? The Peterson family are about to discover to their cost that there is more to their new houseguest than meets the eye, and that his arrival will have terrifying consequences for them all.

In his first major starring role outside of television, Downton Abbey heartthrob Stevens stays just the right side of creepy as the outwardly benign David, who hides a nastily psychotic side beneath a deceptively caring facade. Monroe - last seen in the gritty drama Labor Day (2013) - also creates impact as the suspicious Anna into whose affections David insidiously worms his way. Small town America with all its 'apple pie' charm, as well as the claustrophobic frustration felt by its inhabitants, is wonderfully visualised on screen. The intensity of the setting is merely emphasised by the arrival of the enigmatic David, heightening the film's mounting air of disquiet.

It's always dangerous for a filmmaker to utilise techniques and set-pieces which - whilst not quite ripping off past classics shot for shot - are near enough in their visualisation to warrant accusations of, at best a lack of originality, and worst plagiarism. The final scenes of Wingard's film may fall short of the latter, but are never-the-less close enough in spirit to several outings from the golden age of 1980s slashers, to show a certain absence of inspiration. What was clearly meant as an homage to those teenager-in-peril landmarks, this film's climax is instead a pale imitation of the past. Which is a shame as the previous ninety minutes holds such promise.

The question of course arises as to the taste in the use of sensitive subjects matters - in this case the possible advancements in technological warfare - for what is, after all, mere entertainment. But since the horror genre is not widely known for its diplomacy in the handling of contentious issues, such thorny moral points are unlikely to trouble the consciences of the film's core audience of thrill seekers. Considering this, The Guest effectively delivers what is required of it, in a manner which it just manages to sustain until the final reel.

★★★1/2
Cleaver Patterson