The ambiguous ending of the 2014 horror flick It Follows left people with questions about whether the creature (It) was killed or was still a threat looming ahead.
The film doesn’t really let you know the last act so it’s best left up for you to decide the conclusion.
It
It doesn’t need to sleep. It doesn’t need to eat. No matter where you go, It will follow. But what exactly is It?
Theories abound on the true identity of It. However, from various theories and observations of the creature’s behavior in the film, we can procure some facts about that entity.
It has no known origin, rather being explained as the result of a curse levied upon an unknown individual an unknown amount of time ago.
Given the fact that It still exists and that a curse has to have an origin point, we can safely assume that It was created within the last few hundred years at maximum. Why?
When you factor in the fact that attitudes towards sex only became liberalized to the point that casual sex was socially acceptable in the last few decades.
With that piece of information we have a likely origin for It in the last hundred or so years.
It Explained
First things first, we weren’t explained in It Follows about how the creature originated or what led the creature follow the people with sexually transmitted curse.
Physically speaking we know It is clearly strong enough to physically mangle its victims once it does reach them, shattering bones and breaking necks.
We also know that It feels pain and that pain can be used as a deterrent. The single clue the film gives to this fact is when It is hit with a chair while grabbing Jay’s hair, which causes It to drop Jay.
Yet while It may feel pain, It is also extremely resistant to physical harm. In one scene a gunshot wound to the head only temporarily staggers it, while in the final pool confrontation, it takes two gunshots to stop It’s pursuit.
It’s unknown if It could perhaps be defeated or slowed down significantly by things such as dismemberment, or perhaps total physical annihilation via an explosion, acid, or similar effect – which brings us to our next question, Can It be killed?
Its mortality is a question of It’s origin.
Demon or Spirit?
When the entity is after its victim, it appears to prolong the chase, which puts It firmly in the category of a demon. A spirit acts mindlessly, with no particular desire or enjoyment in causing pain or increasing fear.
Spirits simply use the means at their disposal to achieve their objectives – such as using superhuman strength to quickly break down a door and kill their victim.
A demon however feeds on fear, growing in power by sewing terror, and what’s more, demons are intelligent actors, not mindless slaves such as a spirit.
A demon forced to carry out the directives of a curse will do so but has the intelligence to manipulate the way in which it executes that curse so as to seek enjoyment and empower itself.
We see evidence of this repeatedly, such as when It chooses to simply stare at Jay on the roof of her house as she drives away, or when It turns to look at Jay shortly before killing Greg.
If It was truly mindless, it would carry out its tasks like an automaton, pursuing Jay instead of staring at her driving away.
If It is a demon, then it can certainly be defeated – temporarily – when it takes physical form.
These defeats will force the demon to reassemble its physical form over time, perhaps explaining its disappearance from the final chase scene at the pool.
The Curse
There’s not a single hint about the curse in It Follows where it was explained that how the creature was summoned through the curse.
First, the curse is passed on via sexual intercourse. Once you’ve been cursed though, you’re able to see It, despite It being invisible to everyone around it who doesn’t have the curse.
Interestingly enough, It can still physically interact, and be interacted with, by individuals who can’t see it.
Multiple times It is attacked by characters who don’t have the curse, and It is readily affected by physical obstacles in pursuit of its victim.
This gives us one very strong clue to the nature of the curse: It only takes physical form when near its victim.
This begs the question of if It truly follows its victims at all, and simply chooses when to appear to them.
The Origin
While we have no clue as to who began the curse, we know that sexual trauma is heavily implied throughout the film, as is shame and potentially, incest.
The main characters that we see killed by It all see the creature in the form of a parent at one point or another.
It appears as Jay’s father in the pool scene when she remarks that she doesn’t want to tell her friends what It looks like when they ask.
It also appears as Hugh’s mother when we’re first introduced to the creature, and as Greg’s mother when It kills him.
Whoever created the curse may have been the victim of abuse at home, and the curse may be a form of revenge inflicted upon their abuser.
Conclusion
We explained how the creature in It Follows is probably a Demon and how the curse must have unfolded with our best guesses.
First, there’s no doubt it’s likely a demon since it clearly takes the time to inflict fear on its victims, rather than mindlessly stalk them and accomplish the task of killing them.
If not a demon, it is still an intelligent entity of some sort, possibly bound to the curse against its will but probably enjoying the work anyway.
Second, It only appears physically when near its victims. This implies strongly that It is not always physically present in the real world, and can traverse 3-dimensional space at will.
Third, the curse is spread via sexual intercourse, with It targeting the latest victim and then working its way down the chain.
This means that the curse is relatively recent in human history, as only recently did people have the means to escape It by traveling long distances and having sex with multiple people.
Otherwise, It would have killed all bearers of the curse by now and thus broken it. Whoever created the curse, was likely the victim of abuse.
It Follows Ending Explained
In the last scene, there’s a shot of the two (Jay and Paul) of them walking while holding hands, as we see an identical version of Paul behind them.
Is that It? Or is that just a random person walking down the street? The ending is ambiguous but according to me, it illustrates the point that with that constant fear inside you, you can never feel safe.
Even if you pass it on to someone else, eventually it will kill them and come after you. It’s a final scene about them trying to live with uncertain dread.
It can be harmed, feel pain, and be temporarily stopped by physical means. However, It may not be able to ever be fully killed but leaves it open to interpretation.
Maybe they could have killed It (temporarily). Or It is still following them, or Paul could’ve passed it to the prostitutes. Maybe he didn’t, we aren’t shown.
Also it might represent our own mortality, and how experiences like sex can briefly distract us from our own inevitable end.
So we have just explained the ending of It Follows and the creature as these were our best guesses but it’s clear that what It is has always been up to interpretation.
It Follows is also in the list of the scariest horror movies ever made, a study based on Science.
