15. It Follows

Director: David Robert Mitchell

Release date: April 16, 2015

Critical acclaim has circled the lo-fi indie creeper It Follows since its release and the praise is deserved. The dream-like, Halcyon camera work and soft colours employed by writer-director David Robert Mitchell serve to exaggerate the ever-approaching doom that lurks throughout each frame, permeating every slow pan and jarring note of the trippy ’80s-inspired synth soundtrack.

Mitchell subverts many horror tropes and expertly avoids giving logical motivation to the demonic presence that slowly stalks our beautiful doe-eyed heroine. This enhances the fear in a movie that captures the sensation of being trapped in a nightmare, complete with blurred dream logic. Yes, on one occasion the logic is contradictory, but it’s an error that can be overlooked.

While much has been made of the metaphorical aspects of It Follow‘s central idea, with pundits suggesting everything from venereal disease to the realities of mortality, it’s a film best absorbed rather than deciphered.