What You Only Notice About It Follows When Rewatching

"It Follows" is an extremely atmospheric horror film that relies on mood, lighting, and slow-building tension to provide the shocks, which build up in sudden and unsettling jump scares and moments of gore. At first, you might notice the bright neon colors of the foreground imagery, including the costumes placed on Jay Height (Maika Monroe), which tend to be light-colored. This sharp-and-dark contrast going on in the foreground allows for a dichotomy between what you're watching and what you should be watching. That helps place viewers right smack dab in the middle of Jay's predicament with the supernatural force known as "the entity."

Jay has no idea what form the entity will take on, or who and what will be coming at her in an attempt to kill her. Some of the creatures are versions of the people close to her — and some are people close to the person who was cursed before her. This is one nasty sexually transmitted curse, and it will not give up until she is very dead. The film is surprisingly rewind-worthy for a slow and moody piece. Here's what you'll only make note of upon watching "It Follows" for a second or third time — or even a few more times than that.

Background details are what make "It Follows" stand out among the pack of its horror brethren. Keep an eye over a shoulder or on the background of a wide shot and you'll notice characters standing still, lurking at a distance, slowly coming closer. 

While some characters might be much more obvious as they loom behind their targets (it's hard to hide a giant, after all, as seen above), the majority of the monsters embodied by the entity in "It Follows" are frail and elderly. These represent both the futures of the youthful college students who comprise the main cast and their regrets when it comes to the losses related to family members both living and dead. The movie lulls and shakes the viewer until they don't know what's coming and from where. You will only notice these people, their manners, and the way in which they watch Jay and her friends if you rewatch the film. The movie tends to play with a viewer's mind, leaving them off-kilter.

It's a feat that few horror movies manage to successfully pull off, but "It Follows" does it in spades.