"It Follows"
(Except I actually kind of cheated and watched this on the first day, but do you really care?)
This was a disturbing and uncomfortable one. I wondered aloud if it was written by someone of our generation who came of age during the AIDS crisis, and my husband pointed out that my own coming of age during the peak of the AIDS crisis may have colored my perceptions of the movie. "Sex equals death" is not a new idea to any of us who were alive in the 80s. (Insert rant about how at least we were given good information about things like condoms, even if it did come with a large dose of fear, instead of the bullshit "abstinence only" education they are trying to shove down kids' throats today.)
So, anyway. Horror and sex. Sex and horror. The two are so often intertwined, but this one makes the link much more explicit- the curse is passed on via sex. (It's never really spelled out if it's only sexual intercourse, but that seems to be the case. (Insert gripe about heteronormativity and our society's over emphasis on intercourse here.) For a movie revolving around a sexually transmitted curse, although there is some nudity, it never really became overly explicit or gratuitous. We saw background characters enjoying intimacy, flirting. etc, which added a nice contrast to the drastic consequences the main character is facing for enjoying a human connection. (And speaking of human connection - unlike some horror, you actually believe this group of friends, you know, liked each other. If I'm wondering why these people are even spending time together, I'm probably not going to like the movie.) Along with creating an undercurrent of dread with a nice subtle touch, it also raised interesting ethical questions. What, exactly, is the right thing to do in this situation? (If you sacrifice yourself so as to not have the responsibility of passing it on, it then rebounds back on the person who gave it to you. Either way you are putting someone's life in danger.)
There were a few things I disliked. There were a couple of places that stretched suspension of disbelief just a little too far (was the pool abandoned, yet that well maintained, or did they just sneak in after closing? Why was it in the ridiculously architecturally elaborate "spooky" building? Why with the unneccessary overwrought thunderstorm to try and build atmosphere? That thunderstorm was so, so unnecessary.) The dialogue about the suburb/city divide felt like it could have been interesting if it was more in line with the themes of the movie, but it felt out of place. I was unsure for a large part of the movie if the characters were in high school? college? What was going on with their "sort of there but almost completely uninvolved and uninterested in their lives" parents?
I really like the way this one ends. I am sick of stupid jump scares at the end of horror movies, and instead this one made what I felt was a strong, but nicely ambiguous choice.
This was a disturbing and uncomfortable one. I wondered aloud if it was written by someone of our generation who came of age during the AIDS crisis, and my husband pointed out that my own coming of age during the peak of the AIDS crisis may have colored my perceptions of the movie. "Sex equals death" is not a new idea to any of us who were alive in the 80s. (Insert rant about how at least we were given good information about things like condoms, even if it did come with a large dose of fear, instead of the bullshit "abstinence only" education they are trying to shove down kids' throats today.)
So, anyway. Horror and sex. Sex and horror. The two are so often intertwined, but this one makes the link much more explicit- the curse is passed on via sex. (It's never really spelled out if it's only sexual intercourse, but that seems to be the case. (Insert gripe about heteronormativity and our society's over emphasis on intercourse here.) For a movie revolving around a sexually transmitted curse, although there is some nudity, it never really became overly explicit or gratuitous. We saw background characters enjoying intimacy, flirting. etc, which added a nice contrast to the drastic consequences the main character is facing for enjoying a human connection. (And speaking of human connection - unlike some horror, you actually believe this group of friends, you know, liked each other. If I'm wondering why these people are even spending time together, I'm probably not going to like the movie.) Along with creating an undercurrent of dread with a nice subtle touch, it also raised interesting ethical questions. What, exactly, is the right thing to do in this situation? (If you sacrifice yourself so as to not have the responsibility of passing it on, it then rebounds back on the person who gave it to you. Either way you are putting someone's life in danger.)
There were a few things I disliked. There were a couple of places that stretched suspension of disbelief just a little too far (was the pool abandoned, yet that well maintained, or did they just sneak in after closing? Why was it in the ridiculously architecturally elaborate "spooky" building? Why with the unneccessary overwrought thunderstorm to try and build atmosphere? That thunderstorm was so, so unnecessary.) The dialogue about the suburb/city divide felt like it could have been interesting if it was more in line with the themes of the movie, but it felt out of place. I was unsure for a large part of the movie if the characters were in high school? college? What was going on with their "sort of there but almost completely uninvolved and uninterested in their lives" parents?
I really like the way this one ends. I am sick of stupid jump scares at the end of horror movies, and instead this one made what I felt was a strong, but nicely ambiguous choice.
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