It Follows 2015

Christy Lemire, ChristyLemire.com: Mitchell's skills in crafting mood and building tension result in one of the most mesmerizing and suspenseful horror movies to come along in a long time. Read more

Bruce Ingram, Chicago Sun-Times: It's hard not to share Jay's mounting panic as she watches the thing in its various guises walking slowly toward her wherever she may be, invisible to everyone else and entirely intent on destroying her. Read more

Hazel Cills, Grantland: Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, It Follows is the latest in a long line of sex-as-horror flicks that somehow grounds its terror both in reality and in the otherworldly, making this a smart and thought-provoking movie. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: Most of it evokes the attacks on lust that flourished in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and The Birds and that were rampant in the high school nightmare movies of the 1970s and 1980s. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: Unlike many working in this genre, Mitchell doesn't punish young women for having sex: This is a gender-blind demonic delivery vehicle. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Starting off strong before losing its way in the end, this stylish, suspenseful chiller should significantly broaden Mitchell's audience without disappointing his early supporters in the slightest. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Despite all the fun-to-unpack ideas swirling around Mitchell's premise, this is first and foremost a showcase for his considerable talents as a widescreen visual stylist ... Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: The film turns its viewers into paranoid spectators, scanning the frame for signs of trouble. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's about many things, but dread infuses them all. You won't be grossed out. You'll be creeped out. And that's a lot more satisfying. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Where most teen horror movies revel in the peer group splintering and getting slaughtered, this one is more interested in how people gather around a loved one and shield her from harm. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Follows is an effective pastiche but a studied one; by the end, even its ambiguities feel overdetermined. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "It Follows" is the creepiest movie in years. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Jennifer Kent's The Babadook, from last year, turned parenthood into the scariest story of all, and now comes David Robert Mitchell's It Follows, which merges paranoia and teen sexuality into an exercise in delicious dread. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: A dizzyingly tense and creepy workout. Read more

Andrew Welch, Dallas Morning News: An assured piece of filmmaking that works as both a horror movie and a coming-of-age story. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: Canny manipulation of tone, atmosphere and tension makes this a satisfying little horror movie. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times: [A] smart, relentlessly chilling thriller that opts for originality over cheaply rejiggered jolts. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: The most fun will be in dissecting it afterwards. Film school professors, look forward to a decade of term papers. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Promises more than it delivers, but engrossing throughout. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: "It Follows" is a fine title, blending a logician's briskness with the job description of a stalker, and David Robert Mitchell, the writer and director, has fun with his various predators. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: A beautifully shot, nicely acted, oddly multilayered movie. And one based on the simplest scare of all: Don't look now, but something's behind you. Read more

Tomas Hachard, NPR: Can one perfectly-executed shot redeem the less successful earlier attempts? In this case, after the initial awe wears off, the effect is the opposite: it only makes you realize how much more there was to mine from Mitchell's premise all along. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: From the opening moments, the one thing clear about It Follows is that it will not follow in everyone else's footsteps. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: [A] teen slasher with one killer hook Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Rather than breaking new ground, "It Follows" recycles familiar teenage horror tropes - a girl alone in a house, evil forces banging on a door - but its mood is dreamy. Seldom do you feel manipulated by exploitative formulas. Read more

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press: It's a wildly fun conceit ... Mitchell's atmospheric rendering of It Follows gives the film a fanciful, otherworldly feel. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The matters of sex and lost innocence work like a thematic undertow, pulling the characters down into the dark, psychological depths. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Good horror films rely on suspense and tension, and this one has both elements aplenty. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Writer-director David Robert Mitchell has clearly studied up on John Carpenter. But Mitchell has his own twisted gift for letting atmosphere help define character. It Follows creeps you out big-time. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "It Follows" pretty much earns its buzz as the scariest and best-engineered American horror movie of recent years, and that's all down to Mitchell's sophisticated understanding of technique and the trust and freedom he accords his youthful cast. Read more

David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle: Mitchell conjures up plenty of eerie atmospherics - the camerawork and "Halloween"-esque score are excellent - but the film never reaches terrifying heights. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Writer/director David Robert Mitchell forms a provocative filmic world of slowly unfolding secrets, creating a highly disturbing, highly recommended nightmare. Read more

Lenika Cruz, The Atlantic: It Follows represents a compelling evolution in how studios and audiences can (and should) conceive of its monsters. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Less a conventional scary horror film than a fitful, disturbing dream, It Follows is all about atmosphere, with an unsettling soundscape and dislocating widescreen imagery. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It Follows manages to bend the rules of fateful juvenile sexuality, and does so in a manner that genuinely tingles the spine and disturbs the mind. Read more

Inkoo Kang, TheWrap: It's an undeniable triumph of mood - perfect for anyone who wants to practice clenching their fists for nearly 100 straight minutes - as well as an ambitious effort at reinventing horror by eschewing the genre's common tricks. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Passive and relentless, familiar and terrifying, predictable and shocking - and impossible to shake off. Read more

Liz Braun, Toronto Sun: No question that the storytelling here is impressive; the story itself, however, is a bit thin. Read more

Brian Truitt, USA Today: It Follows is yet another example of how smart the indie horror game is these days. Read more

Chuck Wilson, Village Voice: If the kids think this is the scariest thing ever, then so be it. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: My whole life I've been a horror-movie freak, and I've rarely been as scared as I was at It Follows. But it wasn't a fun kind of scare. It was the so-upset-I-feel-sick kind of amorphous dread. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: "It Follows" is one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. It's also one of the most beautiful. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: One more stylish reminder of how readily we the people can be creeped out. Read more