As a horror fan, the last couple of years have been brutal: there has been a serious lack of decent entries and with every Insidious/Paranormal Activity installment, good horror seems so far away. I’m happy to report that It Follows is the best horror film I’ve seen since The Descent, and it’s effectiveness is not tied to jump scares which is a monumental feat in the current landscape. Director David Robert Mitchell borrows heavily from the horror films of the 1970’s and 1980’s (particularly glaring are the references to John Carpenter and A Nightmare on Elm Street) but couples that cribbing with a solid premise, a truly unsettling villain, and an expertly-crafted style that reminds me of peak Dario Argento. The two standouts in this picture are the beautiful camerawork by Mike Gioulakis and an all-time great score from Disasterpeace, which combine to ratchet up the tension in every scene while framing the creeping dread quietly and perfectly. There are flaws found within It Follows, but none of it distracts me from this ultimate truth: It Follows is a triumph of not just horror filmmaking, but filmmaking entirely.