Maika Monroe, star of the indie-horror-movie-that-could, It Follows, has been promoting this movie for, oh, about a year now. It premiered at Cannes in May of 2014 and has been collecting positive festival reviews ever since. Then, a couple of weeks ago, the film opened on four screens in New York and L.A., doing so well that its studio, Radius, scrapped its plans for an It Follows VOD release and, instead, gave the film a wide release in 1200 theaters. Over the weekend, It Follows grossed a little under $5 million – not huge numbers, but good enough for fifth at the box for a film that was supposed to be out of theaters by now.
We spoke to Monroe about It Follows’ interesting journey from an unknown indie horror film about a curse that’s spread through sexual intercourse, to indie sensation, to a movie that bucked the trend and got a wide release in a day and age when that just doesn’t happen.
When If Follows was collecting great reviews, starting at Cannes, were you always thinking this should get a shot at a wide release?
Well, I remember on set, making the movie, I knew that we were making something special and something unique. But, I had no idea to the extent where it is right now. I mean, I had the slightest idea of it at Cannes, but I didn’t know how audiences were going to take it. And all of a sudden, there are amazing reviews and people are really, really liking it. But, I just had no idea. And now that it’s expanded to 1200 theaters and we started in four movie theaters. Four!
And it was hard to get a ticket in those four theaters.
Yeah! So I’ve heard. It was very difficult. Never, ever could I imagine that this would happen, so it’s been pretty surreal.
After all the positive reviews, was it ever frustrating that it wasn’t going to get a wide release? It’s so rare for a movie like this to get a chance today.
Oh my gosh, I completely agree – it’s so incredibly rare … I think everyone was a bit shocked with how well it did in just four movie theaters, I think breaking some records. People are really wanting to see this, so let’s give it a chance, which was very cool.
It illustrates how screwed up movies are right now.
Totally.
Here’s a horror movie that people like and it took a minor miracle to get it into theaters. Why wouldn’t it be in theaters?
[Laughs] Well, thanks, I like your belief in it.
People do like horror movies.
No, I know. But there’s also a lot of very bad horror movies these days.
Right. And people like this one because it’s a “good” one.
It is a good one! Thank you.
Has your theory about what the movie is trying to say about passing a curse along like an STD changed at all over the last year?
After watching this a couple hundred of times?
Really?
No. I’ve definitely not seen it that much. I saw it twice at Cannes, then once this year. I force myself to watch it. So, it’s been three times.
Why do you have to force yourself? Is it an aversion to horror films or because you don’t like watching yourself onscreen?
Yep, I have a rule now where I watch the movie once as like a whole. You see how it’s put together, the music, everything. And you can kind of not be too focused on yourself because you’ve never seen the movie, so you’re looking at everything. The second time, you pay attention to your performance and learn things from it and what are things I should work on. And then if I watch it again, I just start tearing myself apart. I’ve come to terms that it’s twice. But we’ve been doing press for the movie for so long, I had to refresh myself.
I almost felt bad saying yes when the publicist asked if I wanted to talk to you. “These poor people have been talking about this movie for a year.”
[Laughs] Yeah, feel bad! That’s really funny. It’s been a very long ride, so I decided I should probably refresh my memory so I know what I’m still talking about here.
You’re going to start getting confused and all of a sudden be talking about scenes from Furious 7 instead.
Exactly!
“I loved it when we dropped the cars out of the plane.”
“It was amazing. Good stuff, good stuff.”
What is your interpretation of It Follows?
I don’t know. I read the script not thinking of anything except making a very elegant horror movie.
That’s an interesting phrase, “elegant horror movie.”
Elegant and horror?
I’ve never heard those two words put together before. Is there another example of an elegant horror movie?
I don’t know if there are any. Are there any?
Poltergeist maybe?
I think it’s just more delicate with this than your typical horror movie I guess?
There are a lot of themes.
Yeah, and it has a dreamlike feel to it. You don’t really know what time period you’re in. You’re in this timeless era.
When do you think this movie is set?
If you’re really paying attention, there are pieces that I recognize from the ‘80s. And then there are things that exist now. And there are things that don’t exist at all. [Director] David [Robert Mitchell] wanted it to have a dreamlike feel and so you’re not totally certain where you are.
If Follows wasn’t number one at the box office, but it looks like a lot of people saw it this past weekend.
Yeah, I think it’s in fifth place?
And word of mouth could keep this going now that it’s beyond New York and L.A.
I totally agree.
Mike Ryan has written for The Huffington Post, Wired, Vanity Fair and New York. He is senior entertainment writer at Uproxx. You can contact him directly on Twitter.
