Get your clamshell e-readers at the ready, because fans of the 2014 cult horror movie It Follows are rejoicing! That’s right – It Follows is finally being followed by a sequel, imaginatively titled They Follow. Writer-director David Robert Mitchell and star Maika Monroe are both set to return, with filming beginning in 2024. Neon, an independent film studio, will be behind the sequel and are taking it to the American Film Market.
It Follows was a small movie that made a big impact in 2014, despite having the tiny budget of just $1.3 million. It grossed over $23 million, and was influential on many movies that came after it. It has a 95% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it “a modern masterwork” and declaring it one of the best horror movies of the 2010s. It’s therefore surprising that it’s taken this long for a sequel to come along.
Nowadays, when there’s a horror hit such as M3GAN, Talk to Me, or Five Nights at Freddy’s, a sequel is quickly greenlit. Mitchell has remained in the indie movie arena though, with just one more movie since 2014 – the neo-noir crime mystery Under the Silver Lake starring Andrew Garfield.
Mitchell was influenced by John Carpenter and George A. Romero when writing It Follows, and by photographer Gregory Crewdson. Monroe plays Jay, a teenager who has sex with her boyfriend. He then tells her that he has transmitted a kind of curse to her – she will be pursued by a malevolent shape-shifting entity unless she has sex with someone else and passes it on.
Because Neon is a small studio, it has managed to make interim agreements with the writers and actors unions throughout 2023. This means that they can still develop movies with writers, and use actors to promote movies – such as awards season contenders Anatomy of a Fall and Ferrari.
Since starring in It Follows, Maika Monroe has become something of a “scream queen” in many different horror and thriller movies such as The Guest, Tau, Greta, Villains, Watcher, and Significant Other. She’s been getting plenty of practice as a Final Girl – so whatever these (multiple!) new entities are – they better be on their guard!
Check out our guide to the best slasher movies and the best monster movies. We’re also looking forward to Wednesday season 2.