Follow feels like a really bad trip, but in a way that’s very entertaining to watch.
Follow is one of those small movies, where you watch the trailer and it’s wonderfully evident that it’s a really fascinating story. When you watch the trailer, you won’t be quite sure what to expect, but you know it’ll be a crazy ride to find out.
The story is very simply a love story at heart. Oh, but don’t worry horror fiends, it’s the twisted and pretty sick kind. People are capable of the most horrible things when they believe they’re doing them out of love. Of course, the same can be said for “fear”, which is the other very powerful feeling in Follow.
We don’t do spoiler reviews, so I can’t say too much about the story, but you’ll no doubt feel for the protaganist of this movie. At first, it’ll be because he’s caught up in a terrible situation. Later on, you’ll be shaking your head in disbelief, but you’ll still understand his motives. Afterall, when you wake up to find a dead girl – your own girlfriend – shot dead and you’re holding the gun, things look pretty bad.
When Follow starts out, it plays like a sweet love story. However, from the very beginning, there’s this strange feeling of something being “off”. It’s clearly not the most healthy relationship, and while they’re trying to be good for one another, they simply are not!
A small film, but a big debut
Follow marks the feature film debut for writer and director Owen Egerton. It’s based on a short film, he also wrote and directed. Honestly, I was pretty blown away by many of the elements in this movie. My one critique is that this feature film does feel a bit like an amazing short film that has been turned into a feature film. It’s not boring or too long – at only 1 hour and 14 minutes – but it does feel a bit repetitive at times.
Noah Segan stars in Follow and this really is his movie. He is the protagonist of the story and plays the role of Quinn to perfection. Also, I have to say Olivia Grace Applegate was mesmerising. And honestly, that’s no small feat for someone who spends most of the movie being a corpse. The same was the case in Decay, which was another movie with a similar, yet extremely different, plot.
Also, we had some amazing supporting characters that were played by Haley Lu Richardson (Split) and Don Most (Happy Days). The cast is actually pretty small, but all the characters brought something to the story, so it works. Also, Southern Longoria plays a small role that just stole my heart. I kept waiting for him to come back on the screen. When he looked at Noah Segan’s character towards the ending, I found myself looking at the screen with exactly the same facial expression. It was a pretty odd breaking of the fourth wall moment.
Follow has played at many film festivals for over a year, and is finally out on VOD now.
Details
Director: Owen Egerton
Writer: Owen Egerton
Cast: Noah Segan, Olivia Grace Applegate, Haley Lu Richardson, Don Most,
Plot
Just before Christmas, a painter wakes up to find a gun in his hand and his girlfriend dead on the floor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wt9ZVjceOw
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