I Never Do It Again This Is the End
The Catastrophe Of It Follows Finally Explained
Some horror movies are piece of cake to forget. Your pulse never changes during the initial viewing, and a week after, yous barely think the experience. Other horror movies make an impression. They rob you of your sleep. They make yous glance back over your shoulder equally you walk down the street. Some films are easy to go out backside, while others ... follow.
Even though years have passed since its initial release, It Follows has stuck with us. It tells the story of Jay (Maika Monroe), a college student who starts dating a kind yet mysterious boy named Hugh (Jake Weary). Later Jay and Hugh take sex for the first time, Hugh abandons her, and Jay learns that he's given her a terrible curse. A "affair" is at present following her. It can look like a stranger or someone she knows, just she can run across it, and if it ever catches her, she volition die. Despite not having any hard bear witness of this creature'south existence, Jay's friends decide to believe her story and ring together to come up with a plan to kill this monster once and for all. It's then that we enter into the motion-picture show'south thrilling and terrifying climax.
Today, we're hither to explore all the confusing moments and unanswered questions of this indie horror classic'due south intentionally ambiguous final act, in addition to analyzing some of It Follows' deeper themes. After years of waiting, this is the ending of Information technology Follows, finally explained.
The showdown at the end
In club to impale the entity that's post-obit Jay, her friends come up up with a truly adventurous plan. Jay, Kelly (Lilie Sepe), Paul (Keir Gilchrist), and Yara (Olivia Luccardi) pause into an indoor public puddle later on hours. All around the puddle, they plug in dozens of electric appliances — hair dryers, televisions, toaster ovens, and more. Then Jay swims into the middle of the pool and waits.
When "Information technology" finally arrives, things don't go exactly every bit our heroes planned. Rather than walking into the pool so that Jay's friends tin electrocute information technology, It starts picking up the diverse devices and hurling them at Jay. Some even start to collide with her, disorienting her and drawing blood. Every bit Jay struggles to stay afloat, her friends intervene. Paul starts shooting at where he thinks the entity is, but he ends up hitting Yara in the leg. And so Kelly manages to throw a canvass over the animal, allowing Paul to shoot the monster in the head. It then falls into the h2o, but as Jay tries to swim out of the puddle, the animate being grabs her and holds her underwater. Firing blindly into the pool, Paul manages to shoot the creature once more in the head, and this fourth dimension, it stays dead.
The monster seemingly defeated, Jay and Paul go dwelling house and have sex. Then, in the concluding scene of the motion-picture show, nosotros run across the two of them walking downwards the road together. In the distance, a figure slowly approaches from behind.
Why don't they but run away?
A common criticism of It Follows is that the monster isn't particularly threatening, relative to other horror movie baddies. "Why don't they drive to Mexico?" the whole internet asks, collectively. In a style, it's a fair question. The film never lays down definitive rules for how the beast works, so if you want to poke holes, it'southward defenseless.
But you could read things another way. Try giving the motion-picture show the benefit of the dubiety. Assume our heroes are smart. Presume Annie, the first victim (Bailey Spry), does drive far enough away, but it notwithstanding kills her. Assume that Hugh is e'er tracking the monster's location, simply it nevertheless nearly gets him in the movie theater. Assume that Greg's cabin is a hundred miles abroad from Detroit, but information technology however finds them the very side by side solar day. At present that's scary.
In an interview with Yahoo Movies, director David Robert Mitchell antiseptic that Hugh'south understanding of the monster's "rules" are simply based on his experiences, and they're perhaps inaccurate. Hugh says it'south e'er walking towards its adjacent victim, but at one betoken, the monster is just standing nonetheless on Jay's roof. Maybe sometimes it disappears for months, and other times it shows upward everywhere you go, appearing suddenly and without warning. We simply don't know what this thing can do and can't do, equally the film is unconcerned with dumping exposition to inoculate itself confronting this form of "plot pigsty"-centric movie criticism, opting instead to proceed the monster unknowable and mysterious, for skilful and for ill.
Who is 'It' impersonating during the climax?
When the creature enters the pool room during the climax, Jay's sister, Kelly, asks her, "What do you come across?" Jay responds, "I don't desire to tell y'all." Based on her delivery, Jay seems securely shaken by whatsoever she's looking at. Later, when we see things from Jay'due south perspective, the entity appears to be manifesting as a character we've never seen before: a middle-aged man with a beard. Nosotros know that the entity sometimes impersonates the loved ones of its victims, so who is Information technology impersonating here?
The next time you lot spotter the moving picture, whenever there'southward a scene in Jay'southward house, check out the pictures on her walls. Wait at the Polaroids around her mirror. In a couple of the photographs, y'all'll see that aforementioned bearded man. It'southward never stated who he is, just it seems like a pretty safe supposition that this human being is Jay and Kelly'southward begetter. And given that he isn't actually in the rest of the pic, the odds are probable that he's either divorced from their mother or expressionless.
Perhaps their dad was an abusive jerk, and that'due south why information technology's so painful to run across him again. Or maybe he was a total saint who died tragically, and so seeing his image being stolen by this horrible monster feels like a violation of their memories. Regardless, it's going to mess you lot up pretty bad when your dad starts throwing TVs and trying to drown you lot, so either way, Jay's reaction totally tracks.
Did Hugh, Greg, Paul, or Jay pass the curse forth to anyone else?
Information technology's never confirmed, simply it's possible that Hugh, Jay, Paul, or Greg (Daniel Zovatto) passed the curse along to one or more unnamed side characters at some signal to buy themselves a chip more than time. Just did they? Let's run down the evidence for each 1.
Did Hugh requite the curse to anyone before Jay? Almost certainly. Based on how confidently he knocked out Jay with chloroform, it didn't seem like his kickoff time. It's likely that Annie, the girl killed at the starting time of the film, was a one-time lover of his that he sacrificed to the creature.
If Greg did, information technology was probably on accident. Shortly afterwards he gets the curse, there's a scene when Greg is hanging out and flirting with a group of girls. Greg subsequently remarks that he hasn't seen the creature yet, long after Jay expected it to appear. But mayhap information technology's because he inadvertently passed the curse along to someone else beginning.
The but evidence we take of Paul transmitting the curse comes in the closing minutes of the motion-picture show, when he slowly drives by a pair of sex workers, showing that Paul is at least considering the possibility, whether or not he actually follows through.
There's also decent evidence that Jay herself passed the expletive forth. Soon later on Greg is killed, Jay spots 3 young men hanging out on the deck of a boat. Jay strips downwardly and starts swimming towards the boat. Nosotros probably don't need to guess what she wanted from the guys on board.
What book is Yara reading at the end?
At the end of the flick, every bit Yara is recovering in the hospital from her gunshot wound, she reads aloud to her friends a quote from a book, but she doesn't place information technology at the time. The gist of the passage is basically, "And the most terrible agony may not be in the wound themselves but in knowing for certain that ... your soul will leave your body, and you lot will no longer be a person, and that this is certain. The worst matter is that it is certain."
Then what'south this quote from? Well, Yara mentions earlier in the flick that she's reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and this passage is indeed from that book. The Idiot is an extremely dumbo and complex text, and if we tried to explicate everything going on in that novel, nosotros'd exist here all day, but if you're wondering whether or not information technology has any similarities to It Follows, the short answer is a resounding yes!
The protagonist, Prince Myshkin, is an extremely kind person trying to make his way in an unkind world. The championship refers to the idea that people view Myshkin as "an idiot" because of his kindness, but the book argues that he'south far wiser than the people around him. Similarly, It Follows is a film that extols the virtues of kindness. Unlike many horror flick protagonists, Jay and her friends are also unusually compassionate and supportive of 1 another in an uncaring earth.
Another thought explored throughout The Idiot is death, and how proximity to and awareness of death changes people. So Yara's quote clearly demonstrates how both these works have mortality on their listen. Both inquire, "How do you spend your life when you know that decease is inevitable?
What is It Follows really virtually?
One common estimation of It Follows is that it's primarily about sex activity. Since the monster passes from one person to another when they hook up, this interpretation states that the theme of the film is only "sex is bad, and it will kill yous."
The idea of a monster that kills teenagers for being promiscuous is certainly non new. Information technology'due south been a cadre element of horror films similar John Carpenter'sHalloween and theFriday the 13th movies for so long that nowadays, this trope rarely appears unironically. It's more oftentimes presented with a knowing wink in the context of a satiric horror comedies like Scream or The Cabin in the Forest. So what'south this erstwhile cliche doing hither?
For what it'south worth, whenever David Robert Mitchell is asked almost an anti-sex activity interpretation of It Follows in interviews, he shoots this reading down pretty definitively, saying specifically that he didn't want to make a "puritanical" pic. In his defense force, there'southward clearly much more on this film's heed, thematically speaking, than just sex. If that's all a fan gets from this film, there'due south obviously quite a bit that they're missing.
Then over again, it'due south tough to argue with the facts. When teens have sexual activity, a monster kills them. The fact that so many viewers come abroad with the thought that this is clearly the message of the film means that, on some level, "sex activity is bad, and it will kill you lot" is 1 potential reading of the flick that we're forced to acknowledge is a valid i.
It's about the inevitability of expiry
Equally Neil Gaiman one time said, "If someone tells y'all what a story is nearly, they are probably correct. If they tell you what that is all a story is nigh, they are very definitely wrong." With that in mind, permit'southward talk nigh another themes that It Follows has on its mind, beyond just sex.
One potential way to read the events of the film is thatIt Follows is about the inevitability of expiry. The entity is a boring moving, unstoppable monster that is e'er walking towards y'all, and if it catches yous, you die. Or to call back of information technology some other mode, when information technology catches yous, you die. You can't impale it, you can't reason with information technology, and y'all can run for a little while, merely yous tin can't run from it forever. One day, death will catch you.
If the entity from It Follows starts chasing you, it'due south probably not going to catch yous today. Death isn't scary considering information technology volition catch you lot today or tomorrow. It'south scary considering, no thing what y'all practice, eventually, it will grab you. And expiry isn't a behemothic horrifying monster that'south running at you and screaming at the height of its lungs. It'south quiet and unassuming, out there somewhere in the world, slowly walking towards you. In a way, the Information technology of It Follows ends up existence the scariest monster in horror film history, because from a certain indicate of view, it'south real, and one day, it really will get you lot.
The movie is about corruption
There'south some other fashion to read Information technology Follows. It's tough to pick upward on during your first viewing, but one time yous become aware of information technology, it adds a not bad degree of thematic depth to the film. It Follows is almost abuse.
Apart from the literal monster that starts chasing her, what makes Jay'south date with Hugh then horrifying isn't the sex, it's the abuse. Like a person hiding an STD from their romantic partner, Hugh lies to Jay almost the potential repercussions of sleeping with him, and later, he abandons her. Because of this trauma, Jay becomes "haunted" past the effect, represented by a monster that now follows her.
What'due south 1 manner that you can temporarily gain liberty from this monster? By passing it along and abusing someone else. This represents the idea that sometimes, people who are abused procedure their trauma in the nigh unhealthy way possible — past condign abusers themselves. And how is the monster defeated, at least temporarily? Jay tells the truth to her friends, and they believe her, helping her fight a monster that they themselves literally can't encounter. By relying on her support structure, Jay'southward friends help carry the burden of her curse, dissimilar Hugh, who tries to go information technology alone and ends up passing his trauma along to someone else.
Perhaps it's no coincidence that, whatsoever appearance the entity adopts, they're always in some land of undress, and they're also ofttimes covered in bruises, looking very much like a victim of sexual abuse.
When does Information technology Follows take place?
When you watch Information technology Follows, you might have a difficult time figuring out in what decade it's supposed to be set. Many signs signal to it being a menstruum piece. All the TVs are black and white, Hugh drives a 1975 Plymouth Gran Fury that seems brand new, and none of the kids seem to have cell phones. Then over again, certain aspects of the film are undeniably mod. Annie drives a 2012 Nissan Versa, much of the fashion seems adequately modern, and Yara reads her Dostoyevsky on some sort of miniature computer or eastward-reader that looks like a seashell. So what's up?
The director has stated in various interviews that he intentionally mixed in a bunch of different bits of mode and technology from different decades, to keep the flick from becoming immediately dated and to give it a bit of a timeless and dreamlike feel. It was supposed to be somewhat subtle, a affair that yous might not notice the first time you sentry information technology, simply manifestly Yara'due south "vanquish telephone" stood out quite a bit to viewers because they keep request the manager where they can become 1. In an interview with Yahoo, Mitchell says, "People ask me where the trounce phone is, or if they can get one, more nigh anything. We just made it up. ... Information technology's funny, everybody keeps asking me if they can go one of those. And I'm convinced somebody is going to brand them and get incredibly rich from doing it."
What is 'It,' and is information technology actually dead?
Now for the biggest question of all, what is It? Is information technology a demon? A ghost? A malicious psychic projection born from the collective unconscious of humanity? Where did the entity come from, and is it gone forever? Sorry to suspension information technology to you, just there's definitively, purposefully no reply to these questions. In an interview with Digital Spy, Mitchell says, "I'm non personally that interested in where 'information technology' comes from. To me, it'southward dream logic in the sense that they're in a nightmare, and when yous're in a nightmare, there'southward no solving the nightmare. Even if you effort to solve it."
In terms of whether or non the creature is truly dead, the film doesn't say. Certain, information technology was shot in the caput, but we don't know whether or not that's enough, and since the director isn't giving us answers, we have to figure this out ourselves past looking at the film'south themes. What answer makes the nearly sense, given what the motion-picture show is actually most and what the monster represents? If information technology's about death, then expiry volition even so get our heroes eventually. If it's almost trauma, the trauma is still with them. Then the reply that makes the most sense, thematically, is "yes." The monster is still with them, in i form or some other, because even if the literal monster is no more, death is withal coming for them, and until that happens, this experience will ever follow them.
Will there be a sequel to It Follows?
Given that It Follows was both a disquisitional and commercial success, should we be expecting an endless array of sequels and spinoffs, in the vein of A Nightmare on Elm Street? How long before nosotros get It Follows 3: Pool Warriors?
When asked about sequel possibilities, David Robert Mitchell told Vulture (via Slate), "I couldn't say. ... But I practise want to say that when I wrote this, I had some bigger set pieces, a few things that I sort of simplified, and some stuff that we chose to cutting out because of the budget and fourth dimension, so there's all kinds of fun things that could be washed with this concept and story."
In terms of sequel concepts, Tom Quinn — co-president of i of the moving picture'due south distributors — said he'd want to "flip the title" in a sequel. Nosotros imagine that would be a movie chosen Follow Information technology, which would presumably tell the story of Jay working her way up the chain, trying to rails down the originator of the curse. For what it's worth, the star extra is already on board. Maika Monroe told ComicBook.com in Jan 2021 that she "would practice anything" to work with managing director David Robert Mitchell again. "Whether information technology'south an 'It Follows' sequel or something else, I think he's so insanely talented."
It sounds cool on paper, but in terms of whether or not nosotros'd actually like to run into Follow Information technology, to exist honest, we're a little uncertain. Maybe the coolest thing nigh It Follows is just how fiddling lore in that location is and how the ending leaves you with so many ambiguities. Sure, we've just spent a long time explaining as much about this film equally we could, merely there are some questions that are better left unanswered.
Source: https://www.looper.com/199062/the-ending-of-it-follows-finally-explained/
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