Horror films have often used sex as a metaphor for a variety of cultural anxieties, but it’s hardly been done better than in It Follows, the 2014 film from David Robert Mitchell. In that film, when Jay (Maika Monroe) sleeps with her boyfriend for the first time, she inherits a curse. A slow-moving creature begins following her everywhere she goes. If it catches her, she will die. The only way to get rid of it is to sleep with someone else, thus moving the curse onto another person.
Buy It Follows Blu-rayThe film is full of dread. The monster is very slow, so it is easy to run from, but it never stops. It is always coming for her. As an audience, we find ourselves constantly looking in the background of the frame, checking the corners where the monster might be coming.
It is a brilliant little horror film, and Lionsgate Limited is releasing it in 4K UHD with a cool-looking Steelbook case and lots of extras, including commentaries, interviews, and making-of features. That makes it an easy pick of the week for me.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
The Toxic Avenger, The Toxic Avenger Part II, The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, and Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV 4K UHD: Troma Studios has made a long career as a company specializing in self-aware, low-grade exploitative genre pictures. The Toxic Avenger is their signature film. A remake is coming soon and so we now get the first four films in beautiful UHD.
How to Train Your Dragon 4K UHD: Disney has been remaking all of their classic animated films into “live action” films for years now, and now Universal has climbed onto the bandwagon for some reason. I can’t begin to imagine any reason for this film to exist other than greed. Speaking of which, this is being released in a variety of formats in a variety of packaging, so if this is something you are interested in, you at least get some choices.
Poseidon 4K UHD: The original The Poseidon Adventure was a rather dumb but fun disaster movie anchored by a better-than-it-needed-to-be performance from Gene Hackman. This remake from Wolfgang Petersen kind of came and went, but now its getting a UHD release by the great Arrow Video.
Cairo Station: This Egyptian noir about a disabled newspaper salesman whose obsession with a beautiful woman leads to tragedy is getting the Criterion treatment.
