In just his second full length motion picture, Michigan director David Robert Mitchell crafts a beautifully haunting nightmare that is both the scariest and best directed horror flick to come around in a while.

Nowadays horror movies can be generic. You look at films like The Lazarus Effect or Annabelle and there seems to be something missing behind all the jump scares and gore. It’s not always plot, but passion or sense of identity seems to be missing in many horror movies today.

Something is possessed. A demon is mad. Things go “bump” in the night. We’ve seen it all before.

Just when I started to lose hope in the genre, something like It Follows comes around. It’s a film that is so perfectly executed and realized, that I started to question it if it’s actually a horror movie. Then it scared the you- know-what out of me.

The film takes place and was shot in the suburbs of Detroit, where director Mitchell grew up. The plot centers around 19-year-old Jay (played terrifically by Maika Monroe) who after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, starts having nightmarish visions and cannot shake the feeling of always being followed. Not going to say much more because it is a film you need to experience rather than read in a review.

What you should know going in is that the way the film is shot, edited and performed is close to perfection for a horror movie. The cinematography goes hand in hand with the plot and makes you feel like you’re in the film. Shots linger and follow characters giving viewers the same sense of dread that the characters are experiencing, rather than the quick jump cuts that most other horror movies use to get cheap scares.

Since I too grew up in the Detroit suburbs, many of the scenes only added to the eeriness. There are startling images throughout the film, and this is one of those movies where it actually starts out scary and only gets creepier as it goes. Yes there is gore and graphic images, but it never feels like torture porn that many other R-rated horror flicks use.

The acting is all strong from a cast of mostly unknowns. As briefly mentioned before, Maika Monroe is terrific because she is able to withstand the physical and emotional tolls that her character goes through while also bringing a sense of confidence that is needed. The entire supporting cast gives quietly confident turns as well.

I have minor complaints about the film, but they certainly did not take away from my enjoyment. The film does hit some pacing issues periodically, but by the end I did not really mind. Some might be turned off by the plot and the pace at which it goes, but if you take a step back and look at what the film is trying to do, I think you would realize the pacing is solid.

It Follows is more than worth seeking out this weekend or whenever it comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray. It’s better than any other horror movie to come out in the last couple of years and will certainly stick with you for a while. It’s scary how good this movie is.

GRADE: A-