One of my favorite film critics, Mark Kermode, said a couple of years ago that the new age of horror movies are using the films, style, music, and overall vibe of John Carpenter as their base and going from there. He called Carpenter horror’s new “Year Zero,” and with movies like Adam Wingard’s The Guest and more recently the Canadian creature feature The Void, it’s incredibly easy to see where he’s coming from. And perhaps one of the best comparisons to make is how much of the atmosphere of David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 film It Follows comes from Carpenter’s Halloween.
The above video comes from YouTuber Alessio Marinacci, who does several of these film comparisons, and it’s incredible just how much Halloween–with its use of a typical, nondescript suburb at dusk and evening–influenced It Follows. In both instances, the horror comes from a normal, relatively safe setting that become sinister and dangerous when the concept of evil is introduced–an evil that only the main character can see, no less. (In Halloween, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) seems to be the only one of her friends to notice the Shape is everywhere, and in It Follows, Jay Height (Maika Monroe) literally is the only one who can see It.)
There are certainly more overt similarities between them–from the steady, plodding nature of the threat in both movies, to the perceived lack of adults, to that undeniable reading that promiscuity gets you killed and virginity saves you–but I love the way this video showcases the subtler things, because really it’s the quiet moments and seeming safety of the surroundings that truly make these movies scary.
What do you think about Carpenter being the Year Zero for horror these days? Let me know in the comments below!
Images: Dimension Films, Compass International
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He writes the weekly look at weird or obscure films in Schlock & Awe. Follow him on Twitter!
