Paranoia follows in downright scary horror flick

Director David Robert Mitchell’s “It Follows” is similar to a nightmare so terrifying, it wakes you from a sound sleep. The images that were so vivid before you woke are now like the jumbled pieces of a puzzle, disjointed yet clear enough to remind you of the fear you felt.

“It Follows” is smart, disturbing and deeply scary.

Mitchell’s film follows no traditional horror film rules. The director lures you into a world where anyone and everyone can be the killer. A moody visual approach coupled with a chilling musical score creates a sense of paranoia that builds with each moment.

The film focuses on a group of average teens living a rather mundane existence until an evil force is introduced into their lives. Those who are the focus of the evil are the only ones who can see its shape manifested in anything from a good friend to an old, naked man standing on a roof.

The evil is passed along through sexual relations. Death after intercourse is a standard horror film ploy. But, in this case, it’s not a gimmick to make the victims vulnerable, but a commentary on diseases that can be transmitted in such a manner.

Facing the evil is Jay (Maika Monroe), who, after a sexual encounter with Hugh (Jake Weary), is drugged and tied to a chair. Hugh does this to explain why she now has the evil following her and how she can pass it on.

Jay’s life begins to spin out of control as she’s followed night and day. The race is on as to whether she can escape the evil before she loses her mind.

It’s unclear if Mitchell intends a traditional story about evil vs. good or a metaphor for the evil that lurks in our lives from sexual obsession to the consequences of sin.

The director constantly brings the action back to bodies of water. It’s not clear whether the evil is attracted to the water or it’s just a good visual for the director.

These questions are part of what makes “It Follows” so terrifyingly good. Once a director can create a paranoia in the viewer that something as simple as someone walking down the street can be part of the terror, then the movie has buried itself in the psyche.

There are some brutal moments, but Mitchell never falls back on trying to evoke a reaction through gore. More often than not, the reaction to buckets of blood is more disgust than fear.

“It Follows” builds terror that finds its scares through all the earmarks of a very vivid nightmare.