‘It Follows’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Joanna Robinson
October 20, 2026 · It Follows (2014) · Horror · Mystery · Thriller · 1:44:27 · ▶ Listen on Spotify
Categories
Most Rewatchable Scene
Joanna Robinson▶ 34:01Jay in the backseat of the car talking about her hopes and dreams, right before Jeff tenderly kisses her shoulder and then chloroforms her
Bill's ranking of the Its in It Follows, eight to one
Ranked list · Bill Simmons · ▶ 39:45
Categories, continued
Great Shot Gordo Award
Bill Simmons▶ 52:22The 360-degree POV shots while Cera is handcuffed to the chair, plus the pool shots including when the pool fills with blood
Chris Ryan▶ 52:12Jay touching/fondling a flower growing out of the concrete right before she gets drugged, symbolizing her last moment of innocence
Big Kahuna Burger Award
Bill Simmons▶ 53:51The close-up shot of hand-dipped ice cream with sprinkles that she eats while telling her friends about her crazy life, later also shown being eaten in the hospital at the end.
Is There a Better Title?
Bill Simmons▶ 56:18Jokes the title could be 'It Itches' or 'Itch Follows Butch's Girlfriend', but his real answer is 'The Swimming Pool Plan'
Joanna Robinson▶ 55:17Pitches 'STD: Itch Follows' (combining 'sexually transmitted demon' with 'itch follows')
Butch's Girlfriend Award
Bill Simmons▶ 56:18The swimming pool/hairdryer electrocution plan scene - calls it one of the dumbest plans in the movie, though he notes it's intentionally a 'kid movie plan'
Joanna Robinson▶ 56:08Greg (Daniel Zovatto's character) as a weak link - wanted him to be more charismatic/irresistible like a 'Tim Riggins' type to justify Jay's attraction to him
Overacting Award
Bill Simmons▶ 1:02:00Gives the Stallone/Rambo II Underacting Award to Paul (Keir Gilchrist) rather than an Overacting Award ('I'd rather give the latter to Paul')
Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award
Bill Simmons▶ 1:04:17He would have rolled the dice for a one-night stand with the It Follows girl at any point from age 18-27, talking himself into believing it would work out; also believes if the movie came out today with studio backing it would make at least $100-180 million.
Chris Ryan▶ 1:08:14Maika Monroe still holds the 'Scream Queen belt' (over Jessica Roth and Samara Weaving), with Naomi Watts as his pick for the 2000s (Ring, Ring 2, Funny Games remake, Mulholland Drive); also suggests the sequel to It Follows should have been a straight comedy/sex-comedy about Paul.
Joanna Robinson▶ 1:04:29After her experience doing 'Hand That Rocks the Cradle' and 'Obsession,' there is no amount of sex worth the demon STD—no time for a one-nighter; also takes the hot take that It Follows is better than Hereditary, Midsommar, and Weapons.
Picking Nits
Bill Simmons▶ 1:12:09Jokes that if Jay slept with the boat guys too, she'd be bordering on the record for most sexual encounters by a 'normal' main character in a movie
Chris Ryan▶ 1:10:56The movie's logic that sex 'rolls back' the curse is flawed/convenient, comparing it to a 'hairdryer next to the swimming pool' level of plot contrivance
Joanna Robinson▶ 1:11:14Believes Jay had sex with the lake guys purely as a stalling tactic to buy time against the entity, not as a real attempt to pass it on, since she then has sex with Paul afterward
Probably Unanswerable Questions
Bill Simmons▶ 1:12:09Jokes that the sex-passing theory would make her among the most sexually active 'normal' protagonists in movie history; floats that if Paul/Jay just keep having sex with each other it passes back and forth until it eventually comes back to Jeff and kills everyone, 'and then stop'
Chris Ryan▶ 1:12:50Argues there's no real fix once infected (STD allegory); theorizes Paul passed it to sex workers who passed it to the general public, meaning Paul and Jay could be off the hook unless it loops back; notes the movie doesn't hold up to deep interrogation of its rules, and questions where Jeff even got the rules of 'It Follows' from
Joanna Robinson▶ 1:11:31Believes she had sex with one of the lake/boat guys as a stalling tactic, based on the shot afterward, which then killed at least one of them; the pool gambit failed, leading her to have sex with Paul
Joey Pants Award
Bill Simmons▶ 1:15:13The actor who plays Hugh (identified as Jake Weary), a 'that guy' actor he recognizes from other roles
Casting What-Ifs
Bill Simmons▶ 1:16:14Wanted Jennifer Lawrence to be cast in an elevated horror movie like this during the 2010s, and suggests moving the city setting to Boston with Robin Williams at Bunker Hill Community College (Good Will Hunting riff)
Bill Simmons▶ 1:17:30Agrees with Joanna's Justin Long/Taylor Kitsch idea and adds that Neve Campbell could have easily been the lead
Joanna Robinson▶ 1:17:13Wants a time machine to cast a young Justin Long and Taylor Kitsch as Paul (too old at actual time of filming)
Apex Mountain
Bill Simmons▶ 1:19:49Maika Monroe — no, her apex is probably Longlegs ('that vaulted her to another level'). David Robert Mitchell — yes ('I would have bought a lot of stock after this'). Playpen magazine — yes. Crazy tall guy — yes, could have been spun into his own sequel. Gross, terrorizing Detroit — the original.
Chris Ryan▶ 1:20:47High-school horror movies — no (Scream). Backward-leg murders — yes, though not as good as the first death in The Ring. Charade with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn — no.
Hanks or Cruise
Bill Simmons▶ 1:21:47Tom Cruise — Cruise - citing Risky Business (1983) and Cruise as the naked 'scary guy on the roof' (Digger)
Sequel/Prequel/Limited Series/Remake
Bill Simmons▶ 1:27:13Watched all eight episodes of the Carrie limited series in about 18 hours with Zoe and thought it was really good; pitches an It prequel where the tall guy is the original It (basketball in Romania near a nuclear reactor, pissed off a witch)
Chris Ryan▶ 1:27:02No prestige-TV version of It Follows ('They Follows'): today's conversation shows they'd have to answer too many logistical questions
Joanna Robinson▶ 1:27:42Liked the Carrie series' actual Carrie story (very Lillard-heavy) but not the framing coven lore it didn't need; co-pitches the It prequel with the tall guy as the original It
Is This Movie Better With
Bill Simmons▶ 1:29:03Long Legs - thinks the movie would be better with Long Legs (the recurring utility character) included
Coach Finstock Life Lesson
Joanna Robinson▶ 1:40:33Jokingly amends it to 'don't have sex with a Jeff' too, since you can't rule out all variations of the name
Movies Referenced (50)
Directors Referenced (2)
David Robert Mitchell
6 mentions · Joanna Robinson, Chris Ryan, Bill Simmons · Known for It Follows, Under the Silver Lake▶ 25:39IMDb ↗Lb ↗
John Carpenter
1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Dark Star, Halloween▶ 20:56IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Actors Referenced (18)
Michael Cera
2 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Juno, Superbad, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World▶ 37:38IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Audrey Hepburn
1 mentions · Chris Ryan · Known for Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday▶ 1:21:18IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Austin Abrams
1 mentions · Chris Ryan · Known for Paper Towns, Weapons, Do Revenge▶ 18:54IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Hugh Grant
1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Love Actually, About a Boy, Four Weddings and a Funeral▶ 19:26IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Jack Nicholson
1 mentions · Joanna Robinson · Known for Chinatown, As Good as It Gets, The Departed▶ 1:33:17IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Jake Weary
1 mentions · Joanna Robinson · Known for It Follows, How to Blow Up a Pipeline▶ 1:15:27IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Jennifer Lawrence
1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for The Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle▶ 1:16:14IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Luke Wilson
1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Old School, The Royal Tenenbaums▶ 1:04:17IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Matthew Lillard
1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for The Descendants▶ 1:28:02IMDb ↗Lb ↗