ByScott Beggs|Oct 18, 2018, 6:00 AM EDT
Add us as a preferred source
After capturing the coming-of-age genre with cringe-worthy accuracy in 2010’s The Myth of the American Sleepover, writer/director David Robert Mitchell turned his low-budget sights on a horror film that would go on to make all of us fear sex, lakes, and literally every person walking toward us.
It Follows was a terrifying tone poem that spoke to youthful sexuality by focusing on a young woman named Jay Height (played by Maika Monroe) who contracts a deliberately-paced supernatural murder monster that relentlessly targets you until 1) you’re dead or 2) you’ve passed the curse along by having sex with someone. In more good news, if the person you had sex with gets killed, the murder monster resumes searching for you. And it could look like anyone. Even your best friend. Or you.
Mitchell blended old favorites and originality to invent a monster worthy of haunting our every waking moment. Here are some facts about the film that will follow you wherever you go.
1. ITS TIME PERIOD DOESN’T FEEL REAL.
David Robert Mitchell, production designer Michael Perry, and costume designer Kimberly Leitz coordinated to throw us off-balance without us even realizing it. Almost none of the young characters use cell phones, but they exist—and Yara (Olivia Luccardi) has that clamshell e-reader. The vintage cars all look brand-new, but people also have cars from the 2010s. It’s presumably modern day, but all the TVs are from the 1980s, and all the movies the kids watch are classics. Characters also wear bathing suits or heavy winter coats on the same day without appearing too hot or cold. Essentially the movie takes place during a stretch of impossible weather during an unreal era, making it impossible for you to find your footing.
2. IT’S BASED ON A DREAM.
As a child, Mitchell regularly dreamed of a malevolent being taking the form of different people to slowly menace him. “From what I understand, it’s an anxiety dream,” he said. “Whatever I was going through at that time, my parents divorced when I was around that age, so I imagine it was something to do with that.” He also notes that horror films like Night of the Living Dead (which he saw as a young man) may have informed it. He conceived the sexual component as an adult, and the concept for It Follows was born.
3. CHARACTER NAMES ALLUDE TO CLASSIC HORROR FILMS.
The first girl to be killed in the film is Annie (Bailey Spry), who shares a name with Annie Brackett (Nancy Kyes), the first girl killed in John Carpenter’s Halloween. Plus, Jay’s full name is Jamie—a nod to scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, who (just like Jay) has a sister named Kelly.
4. THE PLAN TO KILL THE MONSTER IS TERRIBLE. BUT THAT’S ON PURPOSE.
Jay and her friends plot to electrocute the monster in a pool even though they don’t know anything about what might weaken it, and they were warned directly that it’s not dumb. “It’s the stupidest plan ever!” Mitchell told Vulture. “It’s a kid-movie plan. It’s something that Scooby Doo and the gang might think of, and that was sort of the point. What would you do if you were confronted by a monster and found yourself trapped within a nightmare?”
Mitchell specifically wanted to avoid the trope of the perfect nugget of information about the monster’s vulnerabilities magically dropping into the gang’s lap.
5. THE COLOR RED FORESHADOWS THE MONSTER’S ARRIVAL.
In horror movies, the color red is regularly used to signal that blood is on the way, and It Follows sticks to that tradition with gusto. Pay attention to red clothing, red lighting, that damned red ball jump scare, red cars, red nails, and other red objects to let you know that danger is getting closer.
6. BODIES OF WATER ARE ALSO MADE TO FEEL DANGEROUS.
The old gag about describing horror movies is that they do for X (balloons, dogs, taco stands) what Jaws did for going in the water, but It Follows does for water what Jaws did for going in the water. Jay is safe at the beginning of the movie in her backyard pool, but all the other, larger bodies of water only promise death (and the kids keep running to them). Annie gets killed at the lake; the monster almost kills Jay during their lakeside retreat and in the giant community swimming pool; and Jay experiences an existential crisis when she considers having sex with three men in a boat to pass the curse onto them.
7. ONE OF THE MONSTERS IS JAY AND KELLY’S FATHER.
The monster takes on the form of a middle-aged man when Jay and Kelly try to kill it at the pool. In an incredibly subtle moment, Jay refuses to tell Kelly (Lili Sepe) what the monster has taken the form of, but if you rewatch the movie, you’ll see that the middle-aged man is their father, who is featured in several family photographs in the house but completely absent from their lives. Some viewers theorize he killed himself, and others see his throwing appliances at her in the pool as a nod toward possible abuse, but Jay is definitely protecting her sister.
8. JAY AND KELLY’S MOM IS PROBABLY AN ALCOHOLIC.
Adults are of zero help throughout the movie, particularly the girls’ mother (Debbie Williams), who appears obscured in almost every shot she’s in but quite clearly drinks in all her scenes. That includes booze in her morning coffee, day drinking, glasses of wine, and remarks from her children that she won’t care about what’s going on. It’s another nuanced, open-ended element that elevates the film—without spelling it out, we know that something terrible has happened to this family long before the sex monster showed up.
9. QUENTIN TARANTINO WOULD HAVE HAD SEX WITH PAUL.
The Kill Bill director loved It Follows but had issues with how it played fast and loose with the mythology. He also, ersh, couldn’t understand why Jay wouldn’t have sex with Paul (Keir Gilchrist) when he offered. “It’s not like she’d have been tricking him into it,” Tarantino said. “It’s what I would have done.”
10. IT’S GOT A SURPRISINGLY LOW BODY COUNT.
In the course of It Follows‘s 100-minute running time, only two people die—including a young woman whose leg is bent back into places it shouldn’t bend—so the movie clearly focused on intensity over quantity. There’s a third death if you consider the monster bleeding rivers into the community pool, but, let’s be real, there’s no way it’s gone for good. Now where’s our sequel?
Quiz: Can You Name the Halloween Costume From These Three Clues?
See how many classic costumes you can construct before the clock runs out.
ByNitya Rao|Oct 28, 2026, 7:00 PM EDT
Anyone can copy a Halloween costume with the right reference photo, but can you assemble one in reverse from just a handful of random accessories? From wand-wielding wizards to iconic movie monsters, someone, somewhere, has worn it all. Now it’s your turn to put your costume designer hat on and see how quickly you can build a costume from three key components and sheer creativity. Put your pop culture memory and Halloween fashion sense to the test below.https://www.sporcle.com/framed/?v=10&pm&gid=41faab33X4&fid=6ae23fc6d6f32
More Halloween Quizzes:
•
Quiz: Is This a Lyric From “Monster Mash” or “Spooky, Scary Skeletons”?
•
Quiz: Can You Name the ’90s Horror Movie From Its Final Girl?
•
Quiz: Can You Match These TV Witches to Their Shows Without Getting Hexed?
•
Quiz: Can You Finish These Spine-Chilling Literary Titles?
How did your styling session go? Are you ready to open your Spirit Halloween franchise, or did some of those clues leave you (or at least your hypothetical Halloween Sim) naked and afraid? Whether you nailed every look on the first try or had to call it quits after the third ambiguous cape, challenge a fellow Halloween fanatic to see if they can beat your score!
The Most Popular Halloween Costumes Through the Decades
If piecing together costumes from random props made you realize just how deeply pop culture is embedded in our October traditions, take a look at how Halloween fashion has evolved over the last century (according to The Daily Meal):
1920s: Clowns, Witches & Farmers
As trick-or-treating started gaining traction, homemade costumes like witches, farmers, and the Pierrot clown—complete with iconic black-and-white face paint—became instant classics.
1930s: Mickey & Minnie Mouse
Mass-produced costumes hit the scene thanks to Ben Cooper after landing a major Disney license. Kids could easily transform into Mickey, Minnie, and Snow White in simple slip dresses and rubber masks right alongside traditional ghosts and goblins.
1940s: Witches & Cats
With the rise of pinup culture, classic costumes like witches and cats got a flirty makeover featuring things like fishnet stockings, dark makeup, and shorter hemlines.
1950s: Hula Dancers & Cowboys
Years before Hawaii officially became a U.S. state in 1959, a postwar hyperfixation on all things tiki and luau took over the country. Combined with the massive popularity of Western films, this inspired hibiscus prints, grass skirts, and cowboy hats to join the mix of spookier characters on Halloween night.
1960s: Superheroes
Comic book icons like Superman, Batman, and Catwoman surveyed the streets as rubber masks and capes made cosplaying your favorite crime-fighter easy.
1970s: Peanuts & Star Wars
TV, cartoons, and pop culture ruled the decade, with trick-or-treaters sporting plastic masks and ’70s staples to emulate the Peanuts gang, Star Wars characters, and Charlie’s Angels.
1980s: Elvira & Hulk Hogan
Higher-budget costumes let fans lean hard into pop culture on Halloween, whether channeling vampy Elvira hairdos, Hulk Hogan onesies, or slasher villains like Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers.
1990s: Power Rangers & The Simpsons
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Simpsons were the easy answers to the group costume dilemma. Think colorful nylon onesies, yellow face paint, and many, many masks.
2000s: Y2K Stars & Harry Potter
Halloween costume inspiration shifted toward real-life Y2K icons like Britney Spears and Michael Jackson, with just as many fantasy favorites like Harry Potter and SpongeBob SquarePants down the block.
2010s: Frozen & Pop Culture
Elsa, Anna, and Marvel heroes reigned supreme amongst the new generation of trick-or-treaters. The digital era also saw the rise of meme costumes and political election outfits featuring even more uncanny valley face masks.
If you love testing your pop culture trivia and Halloween knowledge, check out the Mental Floss quiz page daily for more spooky challenges.
The countdown to Halloween is on, and we’re challenging our readers here at Mental Floss with our Trick or Trivia quiz giveaway. For 13 nights between October 19-31, we’re putting your knowledge of all things spooky to the test. Think you know Halloween? Take at least one quiz and enter to be in the running to win a $200 Barnes & Noble gift card.
More Halloween Reads:
•
7 Forgotten Mischief Night Pranks You Used to See Every Year
•
Quiz: Can You Name the ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ Character From One Clue?
•
•
What Was Trick-or-Treating Like in the 1950s?
•
What the Night Before Halloween Is Called Across America, Mapped
The Artist Who Taught Bob Ross His Famous Painting Technique
Before Bob Ross painted happy little trees, he learned his famous wet-on-wet technique from a German art master.
ByChris Wheatley|Oct 28, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT
One of the undeniably positive effects of the TikTok era is that, through the vague mysteries of the “algorithm,” fresh generations have been introduced to the soothing talents of painter Bob Ross. Born in 1942 in Daytona Beach, Florida, Ross served as a master sergeant in the United States Air Force, but it was later, when he began working as an art tutor, that his passion for painting propelled him to modest fame.
Becoming Bob Ross
It was one of his pupils, a lady named Annette Kowalski, who first saw possibilities for Ross beyond the classroom. Together with her husband, Walt, Ross, and Ross’ wife, a new company, Bob Ross Inc., was created with Bob as the star. In 1982, Ross taped a pilot for a simple show—just him in front of the camera, painting a landscape whilst offering advice. Broadcast on the tiny station, WNVC, in Falls Church, Virginia, dozens of PBS stations were soon eager to sign him up.
Ross eventually went with WIPB in Muncie, Indiana, where his show, The Joy of Painting, ran from 1983 to 1994. With his distinctive permed hairstyle and soft, welcoming voice, Ross was able to create a warm, comforting atmosphere that appealed even to non-artists.
The Original Master
What many people don’t know is that Ross’ techniques and style were not wholly original. Ross had been working as a bartender when he happened upon a television show titled The Magic of Oil Painting, which was hosted by the German painter, William “Bill'” Alexander. Born in Berlin in 1915, Alexander later emigrated to America, where he began hosting shows and writing books on art. He specialized in the alla prima or wet-on-wet technique. Dating back to the 15th century, this approach allowed for a single canvas to be finished in less than half an hour.
Following his retirement from the Air Force, Ross sought out Alexander and studied under him. He even joined Alexander’s company—Alexander Magic Art Supplies—and was acting as a travelling instructor and salesman for this establishment when he first met Annette Kowalski.
A Bitter Rift
Although in the very first episode of The Joy of Painting, Ross fully acknowledged Alexander’s teaching, his rising fame evidently caused friction between the two men. Alexander felt that Ross had leaped to success on the back of his own career. In a 1991 interview, he said of Ross: “He betrayed me.”
Whilst the truth is that neither man can fairly lay claim to have invented the wet-on-wet technique, it’s sad to think that they ended up in animosity. Ross sadly passed in 1995, a year after the final episode of The Joy of Painting was aired.
Read More:
•
The Artist Who Taught Bob Ross His Famous Painting Technique
•
The 10 Most Expensive Picasso Paintings Ever Sold, Ranked
•
The Personal Tragedy Behind Picasso’s Blue Period
•
The Best Indigenous Peoples’ Day Trivia Questions to Reframe How You See American History
•
Why “Gothic” Was Originally an Insult
Quiz: Can You Name the Winona Ryder Movie From One Character?
The two-time Oscar nominee turns 55 on October 28.
ByAlexandria Ingham|Oct 29, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT
Winona Ryder is one of the most famous actresses of her generation. She has starred in a variety of movies over the years, whether you remember her for her standout, heartfelt performance in Edward Scissorhands or when she was dancing away in the air in Beetlejuice. How many performances can you remember, though? We’re going to give you the name of her character, and we want you to match the movie.
Did you get all eight right? If you did, then you are a true Winona Ryder fan. Don’t worry if you missed a few. It’s the perfect time of year to go through her movie history and do a binge-watch.
More Movie & TV Quizzes:
•
Quiz: Can You Name the ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ Character From One Clue?
•
Quiz: Can You Name the Winona Ryder Movie From One Character?
•
Quiz: Can You Name the ’90s Horror Movie From Its Final Girl?
•
Quiz: Can You Name the ‘Friends’ Episode From One Chandler Bing Quote?
•
Quiz: Can You Match the Monster Movie to the Famous Quote?
The Most Memorable Winona Ryder Performances
While many now know her as Joyce Byers in Stranger Things, she’s had a history with the wacky and weird when it comes to movies. Her breakthrough remains one of her most notable roles, when she played Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice in 1988, and she reprised the role in the long-awaited sequel.
In the Tim Burton classic, she played a spiked-haired, camera-toting goth teenager who wasn’t afraid to call it like it was. She brought empathy when it came to the house’s spirits, wanting to help them move on rather than try to scare them away, and it made it clear that she was a star to watch out for.
So, it wasn’t surprising to see her team up with Burton again in 1990, when she played Kim Boggs in Edward Scissorhands. Within the innocence of her relationship with Edward is a warmth that all the adults could learn from.https://www.youtube.com/embed/9-K2wo6btqM?feature=oembed
However, before she reunited with Burton, there was another 1988 performance that stood out. Everyone remembers Heathers, in which Ryder played Veronica Sawyer. It was a career-defining role, as she took on the conflicts of a teenager who wants to get revenge against popular high school bullies, but she does so in a rather terrifying and permanent way.
Ryder isn’t just good at weird movies, though. In 1990, she also took on the role of Jo March in Little Women, bringing a maturity to the role that surprised many who had known her for the quirkier movies to start. In fact, Little Women would earn her a nomination for Best Actress at the Oscars, making it clear that she was growing into an actress to watch.
Since then, Ryder has brought rebels, outsiders, idealists, and doting moms to life throughout a career that spans almost 40 years.
If you love to test your movie knowledge, make sure you bookmark the Mental Floss quiz page for more challenges.
Halloween Quizzes:
•
Quiz: Can You Name the ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ Character From One Clue?
•
Quiz: Can You Name the Halloween Costume From These Three Clues?
•
Quiz: Can You Name the ’90s Horror Movie From Its Final Girl?
•
Quiz: Can You Match the Monster Movie to the Famous Quote?
•
Quiz: Can You Match These TV Witches to Their Shows Without Getting Hexed?