It Follows: 10th Anniversary Steelbook (4K UHD Review)
- Review Date: Oct 14, 2025
- Format: 4K Ultra HD
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Director
David Robert MitchellRelease Date(s)
2014 (August 12, 2025)Studio(s)
Northern Lights Films/Animal Kingdom/Two Flints (Lionsgate Limited)- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: A
Review
At the end of Woody Allen’s Sleeper, Luna Schlosser (the late Diane Keaton) complains that Miles Monroe (Allen) doesn’t seem to believe in science, political systems, or even the existence of God. So, she wonders, what does he actually believe in? His answer neatly sums up Allen’s entire comic philosophy:
“Sex and death. Two things that come once in a lifetime—but at least after death, you’re not nauseous.”
Or, as an anonymous saying goes (one that has been attributed to multiple sources), life is a sexually transmitted disease. The philosophy of horror has long encompassed Woody Allen’s perspective, with any sexual contact (or in the case of a film like Friday the 13th Part 2, even the unfulfilled desire for sexual contact) resulting in that once in a lifetime death. Have sex once, die once and for all, with or without nausea. The overuse of that simplistic formula has been a common criticism of the genre, especially during the slasher cycle of the Eighties, when nubile young teens were usually punished for their sexual awakenings. It’s a surprisingly puritanical perspective for a genre that was built on the notion of violating taboos.
Writer/director David Robert Mitchell’s sophomore film It Follows offered a simple but elegant solution to that formula, by inverting the old saying while still staying true to the spirit of Allen’s philosophy. In It Follows, death is the sexually transmitted disease, which would seem to fit neatly into the standard horror movie trope, except that in this case there’s a way to avoid the ultimate penalty: by having more sex. Sleep with someone else after having become infected by the curse of mortality, and the Grim Reaper will end up following them instead. Of course, it’s a wee bit more complicated than that, as the characters in It Follows discover to their dismay.
Near the beginning of It Follows, college student Jay (Maika Monroe) has her first sexual encounter with her boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary), only to wake up afterward and find out that he’s tied her to a wheelchair in an abandoned parking garage. She fears the worst, but he explains to her that he’s not going to hurt her, but he just infected her with a curse: she’ll be pursued by an entity that can take on the appearance of anyone. It can only walk, not run, but it will never stop until it catches her and kills her. If it does, it will start going after Hugh again instead. So, he tells her to have sex with someone else, as quickly as possible, in order to move herself farther up the chain of death (and by extension, move him even farther up as well).
That’s the core concept that drives It Follows, but for the uninitiated, it’s best to learn how the rest of the narrative unfolds without having any of it spoiled in advance. Suffice it to say that Jay’s friends become involved in trying to help her evade her supernatural pursuer, including Paul (Keir Gilchrist), Yara (Olivia Luccardi), Greg (Daniel Zovatto), and Jay’s sister Kelly (Lili Sepe). How all of that works is part of the devious game that Mitchell is playing with his characters—and with the audience, too.
A film like It Follows begs for interpretation, and many have been offered, but Mitchell has studiously avoided endorsing any of them. Back in 2015, he explained to Ben Rawson-Jones at Digital Spy that the image of a shapeshifting pursuer actually came from nightmares that he had as a child, which he later coupled (no pun intended) with the idea of the pursuer being transmitted sexually. But the exact meaning of everything is up to each viewer to decide. Mitchell was just sharing his own nightmare with the world, and the only logic in It Follows is the logic of dream states. You can’t escape from a nightmare, any more than his characters can escape from their own walking nightmare in the film. Contrary to the tenets of Freudian philosophy, interpretation is less important to the world dream states than the experience of having them, and It Follows embraces that inversion of tradition as well.
To that end, Mitchell devised an extraordinary visual style for It Follows that eschews conventional identifying markers. It was filmed in his native Detroit, but he avoided clearly recognizable settings. The suburban world of It Follows could be anywhere, anytime—Mitchell even avoided details that would have pegged a specific time or place, with the teens never using any specific pop culture references, only watching old movies, and utilizing unfamiliar handheld devices (nothing dates a film more quickly these days than a specific model of cellphone). The environment that they inhabit isn’t really modern-day suburban Detroit, but rather a dream version of suburban reality that reflects the fact that they’re all living in a waking nightmare where death is always lurking in the background.
That’s another crucial part of the visual style that Mitchell crafted for It Follows: the use of negative space. Whenever the main characters are foregrounded, the backgrounds behind them always feel like a potential source of menace, with audiences being forced to scan the surroundings in order to see if any of the extras might actually be the entity. As a result, the very banality of suburban existence ends up feeling like a mortal threat. With the assistance of his chief collaborator, cinematographer Mike Gioulakis, Mitchell kept tight control over the camerawork in It Follows, with slow, stately dolly movies and zooms that provide plenty of opportunity for viewers to worry about what’s happening in the background. The fact that the entity moves equally slowly only adds to the tension.
Woody Allen was right: death does come but once in a lifetime, even in It Follows. Yet for most people, the anticipation of their own mortality is far worse than death itself, and that’s the real psychological vein that Mitchell tapped into with his film. Many people are more comfortable with the thought of dying in an automobile accident than in a plane crash for a simple reason: there’s less time to think about what’s going to happen. The genius of It Follows is that it tells a story that appears to follow the standard horror movie trope of sexual activity leading to death, but then it divorces cause from effect by offering a temporary way out. Jay and her friends aren’t really being punished for their sexuality; they’re being punished for life itself, which is the ultimate in sexually transmitted diseases, because life always ends in death. That makes It Follows a coming-of-age film where these teens learn the hard lesson that death comes for us all, slowly but surely, and even the pleasures of human sexuality only offer a temporary respite.
Cinematographer Mike Gioulakis captured the majority of It Follows digitally at 2K resolution (in ProRes 4:4:4 format) using ARRI Alexa Plus cameras with Cooke S4 Primes and Angénieux Optimo zoom lenses (one shot was captured using a Fujinon Alura zoom instead, with another using the ARRI Shift & Tilt system.) Underwater sequences and the iconic wheelchair scene were captured at 5K resolution using a Red Epic camera with the Cooke S4 lenses. Post-production work was completed as a 2K Digital Intermediate, framed at 2.39:1 for its theatrical release. This version is the new 4K master that was created in 2023 by Second Sight in the U.K., in collaboration with David Robert Mitchell and the original post-production house. Rather than being a simple 2K upscale, it’s a full 4K rebuild using the native 5K and upscaled 2K footage, with new High Dynamic Range grades in Dolby Vision and HDR10. The difference here is that it’s now been encoded onto a BD-100, while the Second Sight release was on a BD-66.
The results are a dramatic visual improvement over Blu-ray, although it’s not easy to explain why. For the most part, there’s no real increase in fine detail, and yet everything still looks crisper and better defined in 4K. The differences aren’t necessarily obvious in screenshots (although they’re still present), but in motion, there’s more depth to the image. It’s an effect akin to high frame rate—not in terms of the dreaded “soap opera effect” (in fact, It Follows looks less like video in 4K than it did in 1080p), but rather in the way that HFR adds an almost three-dimensional solidity to the image. Even flat images like the text on the “shell phone” are subtly clearer than they are in 1080p. The improvements in contrast from the HDR grade are also beneficial to the clarity of the image, with deep, deep blacks in the background that help to define the foreground elements. The color palette is still intentionally somewhat limited, and yet the colors that are present also display more depth than they do on Blu-ray. Flesh tones are better defined, too. Don’t let the fact that It Follows was produced as a 2K DI dissuade you: this 4K version is an across-the-board upgrade.
Audio is offered in English Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Dolby Digital, with optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles. It Follows was released theatrically in 5.1, and while that’s an option here (albeit one that’s been downgraded to lossy Dolby Digital this time around), the new Atmos track was also produced by Second Sight, and it’s a much more effective experience than 5.1. It offers a subtler use of space, with objects being positioned more precisely around the soundstage, making the immersion feel more natural. The overheads are used during a few key moments, but for the most part, the improvements in Atmos are due to precision rather than quantity of channels—and for a film like It Follows, precision is everything. The majority of the low frequencies are provided by Disasterpeace’s pounding score, which feels even more propulsive in Atmos than it does in 5.1. Like the video, the new Atmos mix is an across-the-board upgrade.
The Lionsgate Limited 4K Ultra HD Steelbook release of It Follows is UHD only—there’s no Blu-ray included in the package. It does offer a Digital Code on a paper insert tucked inside, however. The Steelbook itself features new artwork by Phantom City Creative, and there’s also a transparent slipcover that meshes with the underlying artwork. The following extras are included, all of them in HD:
- Commentary by Joshua Grimm
- Commentary by Danny Leigh and Mark Jankovich
- Chasing Ghosts (19:07)
- Following (11:54)
- It’s in the House (22:28)
- Composing a Masterpiece (12:49)
- A Girl’s World (24:02)
- It Follows: The Architecture of Loneliness (11:02)
- Legacy Special Features:
- Critics’ Commentary Hosted by Scott Weinberg
- A Conversation with Disasterpeace (4:56)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:10)
The first commentary is with Joshua Grimm, a professor at Louisiana State University who literally wrote the book on the subject: It Follows for the Devil’s Advocates series. It was originally recorded for Second Sight’s UHD and Blu-ray releases in the U.K. Grimm describes David Robert Mitchell’s original vision for the film and how that changed on set due to budgetary and practical considerations. He also analyzes the film’s structure and tells plenty of stories about the production, much of them having come straight from the horse’s mouth during the interviews that he did for his book. He also discusses the film’s complicated relationship with sexuality, consent, and class, and explores some of the varied interpretations that have been offered. It’s an excellent track that provides the perfect starting point for anyone wanting to learn more about It Follows.
The second commentary pairs writer and journalist Danny Leigh with Marc Jancovich, who is a lecturer at the University of East Anglia. It was originally recorded for the 2015 Region B Blu-ray from Icon Home Entertainment in the U.K. They note the similarities and differences between It Follows and classic slasher films like Halloween, especially during the opening sequence. Everything is slightly off-kilter, essentially taking place in a dream world. They also examine the thematic elements in It Follows, including the way that sexuality is kept at a distance and the return to childhood at the end is a method of surviving it. There’s less practical information here than in Grimm’s track, but they still provide some different angles on the film, but both tracks are worth a listen.
Aside from the legacy features, the rest of the extras here were also produced by Second Sight. Chasing Ghosts is with Keir Gilchrist, who describes himself as a horror fan but one who has become pickier as he’s gotten older. He admits that he was a bit confused by the script when he first read it, but he took that as a good sign, and he trusted Mitchell. Gilchrist also discusses the other cast members and the interrelationships of their characters, as well as his experiences making such a low budget film. Following is with Olivia Luccardi, who says that she celebrated after getting the part in It Follows since it was her first callback for a feature film. She also trusted Mitchell, noting that it wasn’t a collaboration between the two of them since she just did what she was told, and that the real collaboration in It Follows was between Mitchell and Mike Gioulakis.
It’s in the House is an interview with producer David Kaplan, who talks about joining the project, working with Mitchell, securing financing, and compromising due to the limited budget, as well selling the film out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. (The only offers that they got was for day-and-date VOD releases, but when Mirimax eventually picked it up, they ended up getting a wide release on 1600 screens). Composing a Masterpiece is with Rich Vreeland, aka Disasterpeace, who got the job because Mitchell was a fan of his work after having played Fez. Vreeland says that it was an understated film that gave a lot of space for music, so he ran with that and cranked everything to 11 (a lot of the scarier sound effects were actually part of his score). A Girl’s World is with production designer Michael Perry, who describes the way that he moved from making commercials to the world of filmmaking after breaking his back and being out of work for two years. He clicked with Mitchell immediately since he understood all of the horror movie references in the script, and managed to put his stamp on the film despite only having three weeks prep. (Part of his thematic design is that there’s water everywhere, even if it’s only in a painting on a wall in the background.)
The last of the Second Sight extras is It Follows: The Architecture of Loneliness, a visual essay by Joseph Wallace. He examines the design of the film as a whole, with the teens having already faced horror long before their encounters with the entity: the hopelessness of their suburban setting.
Finally, there are two legacy extras from Anchor Bay’s 2015 Blu-ray release. The critics’ commentary is hosted by Nerdist critic Scott Weinberg, who takes the lead for the track and then telephones various colleagues to discuss their perspectives on the film: Eric D. Snider of Movie B.S., Britt Hayes of ScreenCrush, Samuel D. Zimmerman of Shock Till You Drop, Alison Nastasi of Flavorwire, and Eric Vespe of Ain’t It Cool News. It’s mostly an appreciation of It Follows, not a commentary proper, and while there’s a few interesting tidbits here, you’re better off starting with Grimm and then moving on to Leigh and Jancovich. There’s also an older interview with Rich Vreeland, who explains how he got his start by posting his music online, which resulted in him getting a call from the CEO of a company that makes cellphone games, and the rest became history.
That’s all of Second Sight’s extras, with the addition of the extras from Anchor Bay’s original Blu-ray, making this the most comprehensive release of It Follows to date. Add in the fact that it’s Second Sight’s stellar 4K rebuild and Atmos remix, with everything encoded on a BD-100 instead of a BD-66, and Lionsgate Limited has pulled off the rare feat of one-upping Second Sight’s own 4K version. Take note that the Poster Art Gallery mentioned on the Lionsgate Limited order page as being a part of the Legacy Special Features hasn’t been included. Otherwise, everything has been accounted for. It’s a fantastic release of a modern horror classic, and it gets the highest possible recommendation.
-Stephen Bjork
(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).