David Robert Mitchell’s psychological horror film It Follows became a cult hit almost immediately after its 2014 debut. It earned critical acclaim for its spine-chilling atmosphere and unnervingly smart portrayal of the supernatural horror plaguing its young protagonists, and its minimalist $1.3 million production budget made its moderate $23 million worldwide box office look impressive.
Even now, there are plenty of interpretations of It Follows, with some viewers seeing the mysterious, murderous “It” that pursues the characters as a symbol for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and as a punishment for unprotected sex. Others argued that the mysterious entity following and killing teens is a metaphor for sexual assault and rape culture, with protagonist Jay (Maika Monroe) dogged throughout the feature by people not believing her about her sexual trauma.
Violence and sex aren’t new topics in horror, but few movies address those ideas via a predator that characters can’t free themselves from without inflicting harm on others and becoming one themselves. But Pedro Martín-Calero and Isabel Peña’s The Wailing (El Illanto in Spanish), now on Shudder, captures the same unflinching premise: a supernatural entity whose pervasive presence pursues its victims with punishing precision, with the added twist of looking at sexual violence as a generational threat. Given The Wailing’s exploration of trauma and sex, it’s a must-watch for any fan of It Follows.
[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for It Follows.]
The Wailing follows three women from two different eras. In the present day, we follow Madrid university student Andrea (Ester Expósito), whose long-distance relationship with her boyfriend Paulo is the haven she needs after learning she’s adopted. Twenty years earlier, the focus is on Camila (Malena Villa), a film student whose unresolved feelings about her own queerness lead her to stalk and film her muse, the aimless but party-loving wanderer Marie (Mathilde Ollivier), in La Plata, Argentina.
All three women are connected by the fact that the same supernatural entity is stalking them: a creature resembling a gaunt older man that can only be seen through phone or video cameras. The three are also haunted by an unavoidable, ominous wailing that seems to originate from an identical block of old flats near their residences, even though they live in different countries.
Much like It Follows, The Wailing expertly examines the sexual and physical violence women so often face, and how when they seek help, the people around them often don’t believe them until it’s too late. After a traumatic event with the entity leaves Andrea vulnerable and afraid to sleep alone, her explanation that something is following her falls on deaf ears. Her parents and friends force her out of the house in a well-meaning attempt to help her, and dismiss what they believe to be episodes of delusion. That leads to further violence by the entity against Andrea and those around her. Her dilemma mirrors the way Jay in It Follows can’t get her friends to believe something is stalking her until people start getting hurt.
Peña and Martín-Calero take the idea a step further. They showcase how the sexual threat from the old man stalking and touching Andrea isn’t just “a sign of the times” or “an isolated, unfortunate event” by having this entity exist in two different eras, terrorizing the same family and the people around them. By exploring sexual violence through the lens of generational trauma, the directors treat it as if it’s as inescapable as DNA. The same goes for It Follows, where the slow, lumbering entity stalks Jay and her friends across multiple locations, no matter how far they go, or how many tools they use to stop it. Even when Jay tries to pass the entity on to another victim by sleeping with someone, it reverts to stalking her once it’s killed the person she passed it onto. As in It Follows, sexual violence isn’t just an isolated danger in The Wailing; it’s treated as inevitable.
Both films also touch on the view that some people “deserve” the violence that awaits them. When Jay tries to evade the curse by having sex with her friend Paul, he tries to pass the curse on to sex workers, even knowing it will lead to their deaths. In The Wailing, Marie is thrown around by the entity stalking her, but her friends and her judgmental father don’t take the assault seriously, due to what they perceive as her hedonistic lifestyle. Camila only takes a stand when she personally sees the old man harassing Marie — only possible because she herself is stalking Marie, instead of dealing with her queer attraction in a healthier way.
Even Camila’s attempt to intervene comes at a cost of further social ostracism. Because she’s the only woman in her filmmaking class, and refuses to accept help from one classmate in particular in exchange for sexual favors, none of the men in her class pay enough attention to her film to catch sight of the entity within it. When Camila attempts to get help for Marie, the entity swiftly deals with her.
Yet the biggest reason The Wailing is a must-watch for It Follows fans is that the directors and writers in both cases treat sexual violence like a forest fire that devastates everything it touches.
In Jay’s case, the entity causes her to uproot her life and the lives of the people around her. Initially, they don’t believe her, but when they do, anyone who tries to protect her is almost immediately killed or injured. The same can be said for Andrea, Camila, and Marie. No matter what they do, every connection they had with others is severed by the overwhelming presence stalking them. Only after they’re each irreversibly changed by the entity stalking them — to the point that it carves out significant chunks in their communities — can the survivors pick up the pieces to try and heal. Sexual violence doesn’t just destroy people. It destroys communities, and the way these films convey that terrible truth makes both The Wailing and It Follows hit like a punch to the gut.
The Wailing is streaming on Shudder now.
