Battle Of The Sexes

Year: 2015

Director: David Robert Mitchell

Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi

Run Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

MPAA Rating: R

Sex is never a good idea if you're in a horror film. Whether it's the puritanical slashers revenging themselves upon the youthful and libidinous, the Satanic cults that want to infest your womb, or the various horrible diseases, infections, and possessions it opens you up to, just avoid doing the do at all costs. Listen closely. Can you hear faint music that sounds like this? Do yourself a favor and join a convent or something.

Sex has been a part of horror for as long as the genre's been around, dating back to classic literature and even folklore. There's a million reasons to be afraid of the illicit pleasure that has the power to wither, corrupt, cure, infect, and create with wanton arbitrariness, but It Follows has almost miraculously found a new one. 

I mean besides the fact that doing it in the backseat of a car is a cramped, sticky nightmare.

It Follows follows the story of the following: Jay Height (Maika Monroe of The Guest) is a young college student in Detroit. Her ancient rabbit ears television set would seem to indicate that she's in the 80's, but her friend is reading an eBook on some ridiculous Star Trek clamshell compact nonsense that I'm not sure has even been invented yet. So I came to the conclusion that maybe the TV is supposed to indicate that she's poor. But her bedroom is bigger than mine. So... science fiction, it is.

Anyway, Jay goes on a date with the hunkish Hugh (Jake Weary, who somehow survived the terror of being in all 3 Fred movies). All night he acts very strangely, looking over his shoulder and being profoundly distracted. Nevertheless, she finds him likable enough for a quick shag in the backseat of his car, after which he reveals that he is being followed by a relentless shape-shifting creature. It takes the form of whatever person will most help it blend in with your environment, ceaselessly walking toward you until it can reach you and perform a murder most foul. You can outrun it for a stretch, but it will always come trudging, ever trudging for your soul.

The only way to temporarily abate the following is to have sex with another person, at which point the It moves onto them. Once it murders them, it comes back to you. It's like a homicidal game of hot potato. Jay takes to the road with her useless friends: her sister Kelly (Lili Sepe), their bookish friend Yara (Olivia Luccardi), their horny hanger-on Paul (Keir Gilchrist of the tremendously underrated United States of Tara), and their half-stud, half-hippy garbage neighbor Greg (Daniel Zovatto) to avoid the It while trying to discover a way to defeat it.

And being very symmetrical in the process.

It Follows can be described the same way that Hugh describes the monster: "It's very slow, but it's not dumb." The film's pacing, much like its intermittently interesting electro-score by Disasterpeace, has that very same deliberate, interminable pounding. In the beginning, this is a mortifyingly dull weakness, but as the steam builds in the film's pressure cooker, it becomes an unstoppable oppressive force.

The film isn't quite scary enough to give nightmares to more than the most impressionable of teenyboppers, but the tension it creates in its later sequences is still insidiously effective, even for hardened horror viewers. 

The various forms of the It twist the mundane world into a deranged nightmare, and the unflagging determination of the slow but steady menace creates an overwhelming pressure in the background of every scene. On top of that, due to the disguised nature of the beast, victims are required to flee to less-populated areas (which are usually a death sentence in these kinds of films), creating an unsettling cognitive dissonance in the minds of the viewers.

Of course, there's also a smattering of the usual suspect jump scares that feel particularly cheap among the riches to be found here. It's like eating a bowl of juicy raspberries and finding a Cap'n Crunch crunchberry hiding in your spoon. It's startling, yes, but it doesn't make you appreciate the experience any more.

Not when I could spend my time being followed around by a raspberry instead. (I think I've lost control of this metaphor.)

That's the real problem with It Follows. For everything it does spectacularly, terrifically well, there's one small rankling element that knocks it down a peg. Much like Paula Abdul's relationship with the cartoon cat, it's two steps forward, two steps back. And yes, I just referenced "Opposites Attract" on a blog in 2015. I deserve a Pulitzer.

Seriously though, every great element of the film has a small negative one latched onto it like a remora on the belly of a shark. 

Example #1: The film is utterly gorgeous. David Robert Mitchell provides It Follows with a slick, well-polished look that balances colors and symmetry in a unique and arresting way. BUT the machinations of the monster lack internal logic, sometimes choosing the exact form that would cause it to stand out rather than blend in with the masses. The forms it picks are scary, yes, so I'm only nitpicking here, but they don't quite gel with Its motivations as we understand them.

Example #2: The monster is one of the absolute best low budget exercises in terror ever conceived. It's astoundingly cheap, but still feels effectively chilling and supernatural without requiring any extensive special effects. BUT other elements of the production value belie its low budget a little too much for a wide release. The audio can be a little muddy at times, the film's predilection for 360 degree shots is not entirely supported by the resolution of the camera, and the shakiness of the cinematography (especially in an early sequence with a wheelchair) is a constant reminder of the camera's presence, breaking the film's reality a little too often.

Example #3: It Follows is super smart. There are loads of valid ways to interpret the film, because the film is cleverly layered in a way that promotes conversation and active viewership. With today's anemic slate of original horror, this is a tremendous boon. [Highlight for my personal interpretation: Although there's a lot to talk about with the sexual angle, like the STD from Hell that prevents future loving relationships from flourishing, or the idea that sex and intimacy are dangerous and terrifying. My personal feeling is that the It represents the ever-present truth of your mortality, which you can push from your mind by seeking pleasure and feigning ignorance, but inevitably comes to retrieve you. At any rate, It Follows is emphatically NOT a date movie.] BUT there's a dismaying amount of heavy-handed symbolism, mainly in the form of Yara reading literary passages from her damn ass seashell e-reader thing that have a direct link with the events onscreen. Wow, what a coincidence. Such merit, so art.

At least the cinematography is still gorgeous no matter what.

So, for these reasons, despite desperately wanting to give It Follows an 8/10 rating, I really can't find it within myself to do so. But I still highly recommend the film. It's clever, intelligent, original horror starring one of the genre's quickly rising stars in her second role of the past year that really should put her on the map. There's a subtle sense of humor, a modern treatise on sex and dating, and a refreshingly non-exploitative use of nudity. All in all, it's a win-win-win even if it ain't perfect.

Brennan says check it out!

TL;DR: It Follows is a terrific original horror film with a clever low budget concept, but it's a little too ponderous to be truly unforgettable.

Rating: 7/10
Should I Spend Money On This? Yes! Support original horror!
Word Count: 1319

R.S.V. PTSD

Year: 2014

Director: Adam Wingard
Cast: Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Brendan Meyer

Run Time: 1 hour 39 minutes
MPAA Rating: R

You're Next is a tough act to follow. Although the horror comedy from director-writer team Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett couldn't pull its weight in the box office, the fans it acquired are outspoken and fiercely loyal. Their newest film, The Guest (premiering September 17th), will disappoint unless you can divest yourself from expectation (luckily for The Guest and unfortunately for my favorite movie of 2013, the likelihood of audience members having seen You're Next seems to be slim). 

The Guest was never going to be You're Next again. But what it is is still a ton of fun. As described by Adam Wingard himself (I am fancy and important won tickets on Twitter to go see the film at the Sundance Next Festival followed by a Q&A insanely moderated by the moderately insane Nicolas Refn), it's a cross between Halloween and The Terminator with an on-its-sleeve influence from 2011's Drive.

As a fan of slashers, 80's action films, bright colors, and men who look like Ryan Gosling, this is the perfect combination for me. And it will be for anyone who falls into any of those camps.

If your favorite movie is Winter's Bone, you're on your own.

The Guest tells the story of a family. Mom (Sheila Kelley), Dad (Leland Orser), nerdy younger brother Luke (Brendan Meyer), and sexy, rebellious older sister Anna (Maika Monroe). Still reeling from the death of the oldest son Caleb in the war, they take in a recently discharged soldier named David (Dan Stevens), who arrives one day on Caleb's behalf to deliver his final message. David charms them with his rugged good looks and his stories about his time with Caleb and everyone lives happily ever after.

Well. No. Not everyone. When people who have wronged the family wind up dead under mysterious circumstances, Anna grows suspicious of the handsome stranger in their midst. Luke already has reason to be suspicious considering the damage David inflicted upon the local bullies, but chooses to ignore it. He may be book smart, but he sure is a dumbass.

The Guest is not art, but it's not pretending it is. It could be about the manifestation of a family's grief or the effects of PTSD. It could have made a self-serious statement about the war and its effect on American society. And it would have been a great movie, perhaps even a better one. But the movie it chooses to be is so entertaining, it's hard to bemoan the more shallow approach to the material.

You can pick it apart all you want, but it's not the plot you're watching it for. It's a suave badass kicking butts and taking names. It's a young blonde transforming from a teenybopper nobody to a confident warrior. And Jiminy Christmas is it pretty.

Correction: Jiminy Halloween. Correction:  Jiminy Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

The aesthetic and color palette are about as close as a Refn homage can get without actually being a greatest hits YouTube video, but Wingard lets his inspiration lead him to new places as a director. His use of color and shot composition here show definite growth from the man who made You're Next and are a few of the only elements in the film that outright dwarf his previous venture.

The Kool-Aid tinted world of The Guest draws viewers into the heightened reality of the film, one that's just a step to the left from our own, existing in the collective consciousness of those who grew up in the 80's or, like me, have developed a lasting appreciation for the film culture of that time period. The film's tone can be a little aimless at times (it's not quite a comedy but it's funny, it's not quite a thriller but it's exciting), but the color tones keep us firmly in one unified space.

And, unique for a film of this pedigree, the acting feels like a cohesive whole rather than one seasoned veteran faltering under the weight of a dozen amateurs. Even the more minor roles like Orser as the father or Tabatha Shaun as the best friend key into the funny, strange atmosphere that The Guest puts out. Only Lance Reddick (as a military officer on the hunt for David) draws attention away from the strong ensemble as his acting style tends to shade dangerously close to over-the-top. He's no Icarus, sending the film plummeting to a watery grave, but less camp-minded individuals will have trouble swallowing his performance here.

I just set myself up for a great joke but I don't think I should go there.

A few bits and bobs before I leave you. First of all: Man, can Adam Wingard shoot a drink. I can't adequately explain why but my favorite shot of You're Next is orange juice being poured into a glass in the first scene. There's an equally great shot in a bar scene in the first act of The Guest. I don't know what's going on and I refuse to apply film theory and read too far into things, but I like where it's going.

But that kind of observation doesn't do justice to the action-packed fun of the film. The dialogue is razor sharp, the movie references are both subtle (see: Halloween III) and obvious (of course there's a You're Next mask - keep an eye out) but equally fun to hunt down, and there's way too much badass to handle in one single piece of cinema.

I'm not in love with The Guest, but it's a genuinely entertaining film that keeps me excited to follow these filmmakers as they grow and progress through their careers. And although Simon seems to be more self-aware about these things than Adam does, it's great to see that the women in their action / horror films can actually be layered people rather than one-note knife bags.

It's not out for a good month yet, but I urge you to keep this movie kicking around in the back of your brain. Forget about You're Next, buy a ticket, and have yourself a good time.

TL;DR: The Guest is a nearly worthy followup from Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, although the fun can be shallow.
Rating: 8/10
Should I Spend Money On This? Oh definitely. I know it's tough to go to the movies now that tickets are more expensive, but this one's worth a holler especially if you adore cheesy 80's cinema.
Word Count: 1094