The Hateful Eight director Quentin Tarantino spoke with Vulture about one of the most intriguing horror films of the past few years – ‘It Follows’ and had some constructive criticism to which the director of that film had some not-so constructive advice back.
Quentin Tarantino said the following of ‘It Follows’:
“He [writer-director David Robert Mitchell] could have kept his mythology straight. He broke his mythology left, right, and center. We see how the bad guys are: They’re never casual. They’re never just hanging around. They’ve always got that one look, and they always just progressively move toward you. Yet in the movie theater, the guy thinks he sees the woman in the yellow dress, and the girl goes, “What woman?” Then he realizes that it’s the follower. So he doesn’t realize it’s the follower upon just looking at her? She’s just standing in the doorway of the theater, smiling at him, and he doesn’t immediately notice her? You would think that he, of anybody, would know how to spot those things as soon as possible. We spotted them among the extras.”
It Follows Director David Robert Mitchell replied via Twitter:
“Hey QT, why don’t we get together over a beer and talk about these notes. I have a few of my own for you.”
My Thoughts:
To be honest I didn’t have much of an issue with the plotholes of It Follows but rather the pacing of the film. It starts off strong and continues to be a suspenseful and original horror outing but I didn’t even notice the issues that Tarantino brought to light here because I just got bored after a while.
I’m not sure if Mitchell was joking or not, but it came off as an angsty retort from a filmmaker who was feeling offended that his work and writing be brought into question when it comes to plot inconsistency. Tarantino needs ZERO filmwriting tips – because he’s one of the greatest of all time. So for his own sake, I hope Mitchell’s jab was just a playful joke that didn’t come off as funny due to the limitations of sarcasm being lost without any way of getting the tone down out with a short tweet.