It Follows’ mythology has never been its strongest aspect. So, the creature begins following you after you sleep with the person it’s previously been following? And it can only walk? But it can also throw appliances? And just what exactly happens when you shoot it in the head? Quentin Tarantino expressed his gripes with the above questions in the wake of the film’s release, while director David Robert Mitchell says that the rules as we hear them in the film aren’t his rules so much as those that the characters have interpreted.
Of course, nitpicking this kind of minutiae is often the best way to spoil an otherwise incredible horror flick. But obsessive nitpicking can also yield some eye-opening data. Movies, Films, And Flix’s Mark Hofmeyer, for example, took it upon himself to calculate just how far the creature walked throughout the course of the film, taking into account the travels of the characters and Mitchell’s filming locations.
From the abandoned Northville Psychiatric Hospital where Jay is infected to the myriad Detroit locations she visits to northern Michigan beach they retreat to and back again, the creature walked a total of 1,017 miles at an assumed pace of 20 minutes per mile. “I’m assuming that the creature always reroutes itself and follows the quickest route when its prey changes locations,” he clarifies. “Since it can’t just walk through homes I think it uses surface roads, alleys, and areas that aren’t fenced off to get to its prey.”
And, while the mythology might not quite hold up, Hofmeyer says the timing of the creature’s trip actually does. He even breaks up the thing’s journey day-by-day, should you assume he might be taking any shortcuts. It’s fascinating stuff, even if it still can’t explain why the thing would choose to appear as a topless woman who is also urinating.
Read the whole thing here, and explore the site to also find out how much ground Nic Cage covered while dressed as a bear in the Wicker Man remake.