It Follows (2014)

I had a chance to rewatch It Follows making it the third time that I've seen it, and I can now identify at least two ways that this most recent viewing has changed my opinion of it.

The first two times that I watched this film, I really enjoyed it, with the huge exception of the logic of the monster. Like many others, I enjoyed the premise quite a bit -- a shapeshift monster is slowly but constantly traveling at a walking pace towards its victim. It is such a simplistically beautiful idea that it's hard not to be enthralled with it. That's why it's always such a disappointment to watch the moive continuously give up on this premise in exchange for creating setpieces. The monster will seemingly take a few detours or halt its progress for the sake of scaring the main characters. Most recently, I was expecting that these errors in logic would detract less from the movie. "Ok, this film has some plot holes, but it's still creepy so I'm going to shut off my brain and enjoy it." But I couldn't. I realized more and more the wasted potential of this film by not adhering to its core principal. The obvious scenes (being placed in a situation where you can't escape, being among a large group of walking people, being unable to see around you) being sadly absent, and the apparent apathy of the monster becomes increasingly frustrating.

The second thign that changed on this most recent viewing is my understanding of the metaphor of the monster. I tend to dislike "anti-sex" narratives in both film and in print, so from the beginning, I chose to ignore the "Monster = STD" theories. Upon this most recent viewing, I discovered that yes, I am in fact a genius and I was right all along.

I can undestand why people think that it's about sex. After all, the monster transfers via sex and several of the characters at hinted at being promiscuous. However, in the end, it's the non-monster-related dialogue that presents the true meaning, All of the offhand comments revolve around growing older, not directly related to sex, which leads me to believe that the monster is "It Follows" is just the slow progress of time itself and our eventual demise. The characters spend a lot of time talking about their childhoods, their parents, their young romances, smoking in secret, and curfew. The locations they all visit are related either to childhood and family -- schools, homes, vacation houses, playgrounds -- or the hospital, representing death. All of it is related to maturity and aging, not sex, which is why the movie is called "It Follows" and not "It Spreads".