In 2014, It Follows was released and horror fans learned the amazing story of Jay (Maika Monroe), a teenage girl who sleeps with her boyfriend and is stalked by a figure/monster/supernatural presence. Audiences and critics have gone wild for the film, talking about how the monster is a clever metaphor for an STD as the teenage characters pass the monster to each other every time that they have sex.

A story about adolescents having sex might sound like an after school special or episode of a corny teen show. It Follows is nothing like that and is intelligent and scary, two qualities that will make any horror film stick out. It Follows just might be the most popular horror movie ever made as it's rare to hear something negative about this inventive film.

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There are underrated teen horror movies and then there's It Follows, which is the opposite of underappreciated. While there are many classic films that people adore, from Halloween to Misery to The Shining and Scream, It Follows just might be the most popular modern horror movie made in the past decade or so. When interviewed by Vulture, the director David Robert Mitchell shared that they would consider making a second film and they mentioned how much audiences were enjoying the movie: "It seems like the response has been very strong at this point, but any specifics [about sequels]—that, I couldn’t say. I have a lot of different kinds of projects in many different genres, so I don’t know that a sequel would be the next thing that I would do, but I’m certainly open to it." While fans would be thrilled with a sequel of It Follows, the movie definitely stands out its own and can be watched several times as there's always going to be new meaning found in it.

Jay (Maika Monroe) sitting in a chair looking scared in It Follows

There are many Reddit threads devoted to how much people love It Follows and the story has really resonated with viewers, perhaps even more so than many other recent horror films. There seem to be two main reasons why the movie is so loved: the premise and the tone. Even though the premise might seem pretty wild and out there, the movie manages to convince audiences that a monster who is passed from person to person through sex could actually happen. It's not as hard to believe as some horror movie premises. As Maika Monroe told Den Of Geek in an interview, the idea seemed strange on the page but she was intrigued: "I definitely thought it was quite creepy, but I also thought the plot was very, very odd. I didn’t know how it would translate into a movie. But when I saw David’s previous film, The Myth Of The American Sleepover, it made sense to me." The characters take what's going on seriously, and since they're thoughtful and careful about it, that changes the whole movie for the better.

The tone of It Follows is really like nothing horror movie fans have seen before. There are some incredible scary films about the supernatural, from haunted house movies to tales about creatures and monsters. In It Follows, the monster only appears after characters have sex, and the film excels at showing how something is stalking the characters. It almost feels like if the viewer would look over their shoulder, they would see a strange figure. Since It Follows is an artistic and well-made independent film, the premise doesn't feel confusing, but it might be campy if a less talented filmmaker had made it. Since the film is quiet, beautiful, and smart, the vibe just works. It is full of atmospheric scenes that let the viewer interpret what's going on.

Jay (Maika Monroe) standing in her high school hallway in It Follows

The release of It Follows is really cool to hear about. According to Entertainment Weekly, RADiUS had three ways that they could put out the movie. They could put the film out in a few theaters and then do VOD. They could put the movie out in 600 theaters and wait around three months for VOD. Or they could do a "limited run" release then add the movie to more theaters. Because A24 did so well releasing Spring Breakers this third way, that's what Jason Janego and Tom Quinn, the co-presidents of RADiUS, decided to do. The movie made $3.8 million at the box office. According to Indie Wire, It Follows had a budget of $1.3 million and made 15 times that. The movie was at the Cannes Film Festival, RADiUS bought it, and then it did really well.

While there are always fantastic new horror movies that take on tropes, and there are some exciting 2022 horror movies coming up, It Follows remains an incredibly popular movie that is creative and impressive.

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