• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

THE FOLLOWING: IT FOLLOWS EVOKES CLASSIC SLASHER FILM TRADITIONS WHILE MESSING WITH THEM

Written by JAKE MULLIGAN Posted March 19, 2015 Filed Under: A+E, Film

MV_ItFollows_728

In It Follows, a teenage girl named Jay has sex, and it ruins her life. Jay’s partner tricked her into the tryst so he could pass her something—not an STD, but an evil spirit. She can only ward it off by having sex. And that only works temporarily—the demon has a collection of infected victims to cycle through, and it’ll return to Jay sooner than later. Everyone’s carnal desires are biting back with a vengeance.

 

So much for the virginal “final girl” of slasher movies past. Jay is the final girl’s worst nightmare—she can only survive by sleeping around. Director David Robert Mitchell knows that he’s evoking slasher films of yore: He replicates the wide-lens photography of John Carpenter, rarely references modern tech, and layers a synth score over the whole thing. We got him to talk about how he worked with the traditions of his chosen genre—and about how he messed with them.

 

The standout imagery in your film is sexual: Weathered Playboys, red heels, pink underwear.

David Robert Mitchell: On some level,that is a direct reference to horror films of the past. It’s about the types of [sexualized] images we’ve seen, and about wanting to alter them or re-interpret them.

 

I’d like to talk about that, but you’re probably averse to commenting on specific readings of your film …

 

True! I think the charm is letting the audience interpret the film any way they want. Sometimes I agree, or disagree, or love, or hate those interpretations …

 

What kind of interpretation do you hate?

 

I’ve had people imagine that the film is a puritanical statement. Which is irritating to me.

 

I wouldn’t have used the word “puritanical,” but the film did feel afraid of female sexuality. It reminded me of Jacques Tourneur or David Lynch … like you were exploring unconscious male anxiety about women having sex.

 

I can see that. I think it’s about sexuality in general, more than “fear of female sexuality.” But if people see it that way, I wouldn’t want to dismiss that.

 

Well instead of the innocent “final girl,” your actress has to constantly have sex. And the film takes on a melancholic tone as she grows more disheveled … Aren’t you subverting tradition?

 

Sure, yeah. But I also think that some of the analytical opinions about horror films that we’ve collectively agreed upon—like the stuff that’s in Scream, which is a re-interpretation of academic analysis—is wrongly assumed to be fact.

 

So what’s your reading—do you disagree with that take?

 

I think even John Carpenter has come out and said that it was not his intention in Halloween to craft a scenario where the virgin survives because she’s avoiding sex. But we’ve accepted that one particular academic interpretation. I’m not saying that’s wrong—I’m just saying it’s only one interpretation.

 

An interpretation that you’re now screwing around with.

 

Well … I mean … maybe. [Laughs, coyly.] To some degree.

 

JAKE MULLIGAN
Related posts
  • JAKE MULLIGAN
    https://digboston.com/author/jake-mulligan/
    FILM REVIEW: "JACKASS FOREVER"
  • JAKE MULLIGAN
    https://digboston.com/author/jake-mulligan/
    FILM REVIEW: 9TO5, THE STORY OF A MOVEMENT
  • JAKE MULLIGAN
    https://digboston.com/author/jake-mulligan/
    MOVIE DIARY: "BETTER LUCK TOMORROW"
  • JAKE MULLIGAN
    https://digboston.com/author/jake-mulligan/
    FILM REVIEW: "NO SUDDEN MOVE"

Filed Under: A+E, Film Tagged With: David Lynch, David Robert Mitchell, genre, horror, Interview, Jacques Tourneur, jay, john carpenter, score, scream, sexualized, slasher film, synth, tradition

WHAT’S NEW

Mass Supreme Court Sides With Asshole Sheriff In Prison Phone Fee Decision

Mass Supreme Court Sides With Asshole Sheriff In Prison Phone Fee Decision

State Wire: Mass Group Says Campus-Based Supports Needed For Former Foster Youth

State Wire: Mass Group Says Campus-Based Supports Needed For Former Foster Youth

Assange Supporters To Protest AG Garland At Harvard Commencement

Assange Supporters To Protest AG Garland At Harvard Commencement

We Turned the North End Restaurant Lawsuit Against Mayor Wu Into a Musical

We Turned the North End Restaurant Lawsuit Against Mayor Wu Into a Musical

Photo by Mike Connolly

Opinion: Defending the Right to Abortion

Longtime Anti-Nuclear Activist On Trial This Morning In Plymouth

Longtime Anti-Nuclear Activist On Trial This Morning In Plymouth

Primary Sidebar

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • We Turned the North End Restaurant Lawsuit Against Mayor Wu Into a Musical
  • Do You Want To Work For the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission?
  • Inbox: Red Bull Cliff Diving Returns To Boston Waterfront
  • How Long Can Major Cannabis Cultivators Sustain Massive Indoor Grows In Mass?
  • GTFO: A Hidden Melrose Hike For You To Discover

CURRENT STREET EDITION

DIG 24.08 – 04/21/22

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]