I loved the look of this film. It felt like I was back in the 80’s, my favourite decade for movies, music, even the crazy fashion. So I thought, yes, great choice of era, but then – wait – actually, what time period is this? Felt kind of 80’s but then perhaps it was earlier, the 70’s, or 60’s even, with the cars, clothes, and the house decor. Then I was really stumped. In fact a little more than stumped. I’m going to say I was perturbed with a slight sense of unease when I started to think about that ebook reader device. It looks like a retro clam shell compact mirror, except that in this film, it’s some kind of ereader, one that doesn’t actually exist, as far as I know, but I’d really like to have one.
So is this the past, the future, some alternate timeline? This lack of a definite era unsettled me.
Then we have the bloody creepy, awful as hell music, that keeps your nerves jangling from start to finish.
Quick plot:
Our heroine is Jay. She sleeps with a guy she fancies and contracts an SSTD, that’s Supernatural Sexually Transmitted Disease. The guy deliberately infected her to get himself out of trouble. IT is some kind of paranormal creature passed on through sex. IT will follow you until it gets close enough to touch you, and then you die, horribly. Jay will spend the rest of the film trying to evade becoming IT’s next victim.
So we have:
No definite time period
Creepy ass music
Unsettling, foreboding atmosphere that doesn’t let up
Like Jay, the viewer cannot relax for one minute. How would you ever sleep again if you had this Thing after you?
This film stayed with me. What would I do if I was in Jay’s position? Pass the infection/haunting on and hope that person would pass it on to someone else and keep going? But in a way that would be worse as I wouldn’t know when those people down the line might die and then It would come back around for me. At least if I knew IT was following me, I could keep ahead of it. Trust your friends and start sharing it amongst them maybe so there’d bee several sets of eyes on the lookout for IT? But then you are bringing your friends into a horrifying life where they will never be able to relax, hold down a job, do anything normal really. With IT always following you, how would you ever be able to sleep properly again?
Or would you face IT and get your death over with rather than living with the fear and anticipation of IT finally reaching you?
I thought to myself, as terrible as the idea was, the only option might be suicide. Just how long can a person live with such fear and terror, the frightening anticipation of the moment IT finally catches up with you. Killing yourself might be the only way to get relief.
And on that sombre note, I leave you to search for this movie if you haven’t seen it yet.
***** Different to every horror film I’ve ever seen and for that it gets all 5 stars.
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Emma's Ramblings on Supernatural Fiction 