Even when the script doesnât add up, David Robert Mitchellâs second feature (after 2010's The Myth of the American Sleepover) is an efficient fear-generating mechanism. Most horror films tap into a variety of fears, and It Follows is no exception.
Mitchellâs scare tactics include water (it begins and ends in pools), sex (a virus that can be transmitted only by intercourse), and suburbs (evil lurks behind the placid facade).
But the primary fear is that of being followedâsomeone is walking behind you, so you start walking faster, change course, or cross the street. Chances are theyâre just minding their own business, but what if they arenât?
After Jay (The Guestâs Maika Monroe, a horror heroine of the first order) gets busy with a secretive guy from across the Detroit tracks, disheveled, zombie-like people start following her with the intent to kill.
She can pass the virus on, but she canât get rid of it, so she ropes in her droll sister and their friends, including besotted neighbor Paul (Keir Gilchrist). Collective paranoia ensues, culminating in a watery showdown as Rich Vreelandâs insidious score burrows its way into your bowels.
On the walk home from the theater, I felt like I was being followed. Maybe I was. Maybe I still am. 
