The significance of The Entity's 10 different forms in It Follows

The It of It Follows takes several different forms, and we're told early on it could appear as "someone you know or a stranger in a crowd". If you pay close attention, it seems like each form is chosen specifically to mess with Jay (Maika Monroe), acting as a manifestation of subconscious anxieties.

Director David Robert Mitchell explained to Vulture that when choosing the form of It - often referred to as The Entity - he "tried to just think about what was troubling to me in each of those situations".

Mitchell noted in the same interview that many of the forms The Entity takes are more significant than we realise - it's just too far away to properly register for most viewers.

Bearing this in mind, I've listed all of the main forms The Entity takes and teased out how they're significant to Jay's mental state at that point in the film.

#1 - Naked woman in the car park (Ruby Harris)

There's some debate over who this version of The Entity is, but I'm pretty sure it's Hugh/Jeff's mum. The rule is we don't see an adult's face unless it's important, and we see Hugh's mum when Jay goes to visit later in the film.

Knowing this lends the scene more power - despite the horrific thing he's done to Jay, The Entity is telling Hugh it's not done with him yet, knowing he can still see it and taking on a form particular to him. Chilling stuff.

#2 - Old woman in school (Ingrid Mortimer)

The poem being read in the English class is key here - T. S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. As Jay is about to bolt her teacher reads: "I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, / and in short, I was afraid."

Eliot is talking about the inevitability of death and ageing. The Entity arrives in Jay's college looking like death itself, pursuing Jay as doggedly as the Grim Reaper.

Jay expressed anxiety about getting older in the car with Hugh. Speaking about being old enough to go on dates, she says: "It's about having some sort of freedom I guess. Now that we're old enough, where the hell do we go?" What better form to mess with her then than an OAP - a reminder that her teenage excitement over getting older is at an end and it's all downhill from here.

#3 Pissing woman with missing teeth (Alexyss Spradlin)

Jay is very much grappling with her traumatic experience with Hugh at this point in the film. The woman's state of undress mirrors how Jay was thrown into the road by Hugh in just her underwear. The missing teeth and black eyes are associated with ideas of sexual and domestic violence Jay might be dealing with after her initially consensual encounter became a humiliating violation.

I see two meanings for the pee. Firstly she's in Jay's house and is marking her territory - nowhere is safe for Jay now, not even her most private space.

Secondly, Hugh makes a bizarre comment during the cinema date envying a toddler for having the freedom to go to the toilet whenever he felt like it. Well, that was a kind of gross thing to say, and we see just how gross here. Jay has spoken before about gaining "freedom" and not knowing what to do with it - here we see how monstrous an adult can be when given too much freedom, not even respecting taboos about peeing in the cistern. 

#4 - The Tall Man (Mike Lanier)

Yep, it's time for the creepiest jump scare in the film. Aside from the significance of a man forcing his way into Jay's bedroom after what Hugh did to her, it's also important to remember that her dad is Mr Height. More on that later.

#5 - Yara (Olivia Luccardi)

The Entity ups the psychological ante from here on in, primarily appearing as people Jay knows. At this point in the film, Jay is considering passing the curse on to one of her male friends, so it might be significant that The Entity appears as her bestie to torment her.

The last time we saw The Entity it was hiding behind Yara. Now it is Yara - adding to Jay's paranoia that nowhere is safe.

#6 - Beach hut boy (Charles Gertner)

This jump scare made me jump out of my seat on first viewing - good job David Robert Mitchell. It took a fourth viewing to realise this was actually Jay's neighbour we see perving on her in the scene with her in the swimming pool and later hiding out on her roof and chucking a ball at her window. Weird behaviour.

Jay is initially pretty cool with this kid oggling her - but as the film goes on he becomes an insidious symbol of men overstepping boundaries, especially since this version of The Entity destroys the wall of the hut Jay's hiding out in.

He also looks quite a bit like Paul (Keir Gilchrist). This could reflect Jay's ambivalence about Paul's repeated sexual advances.

#7 Greg (Daniel Zovatto) and Greg's mum (Leisa Pulido)

The Entity's after Greg at this point, and the forms it takes implies Greg has some serious issues. First it appears as his doppelganger to break into his house, before changing into his mum and fucking him to death.

Yep, the cocky promiscuous guy gets this insanely Oedipal death. Yikes.

#8 - Roof nudist (Don Hails)

So according to Reddit, this is actually Jay's grandfather who we see early on in the family photo on the left. Psychologically, after seeing Greg fucked to death by his mum, it makes sense that Jay would start to see The Entity as family members cast in disturbing sexual lights.

But why is it on the roof? Answers on a postcard please.

#9 - Mr Height (Ele Bardha)

It's very easy to miss this quite significant plot point - but the final form The Entity takes is actually Jay's father. It's quite clear dad isn't around anymore. The fact he still appears in family photos potentially rules out divorce, so the likelihood is that he's dead. 

Being attacked by your dead father is traumatic enough, but a more Freudian reading would highlight that Jay appears to defeat The Entity in this form - effectively murdering the image of her father, which one could read as stand-in for the root of her trauma or her experiences with patriarchal oppression in the movie.

But we're not done yet...

#10 - The final follower

That ambiguous final scene leaves it up to the viewer if Paul and Jay are still being followed - there's definitely someone behind them. If it is The Entity, it appears to be dressed identically to Paul (thanks to the Screen Readings blog for pointing this out).

It would be apt for someone with as poor self esteem as Paul to be pursued by his doppelganger. In fact, both male characters who inherit the curse appear to be pursued by their doubles - perhaps David Robert Mitchell is saying something about masculine self loathing. We'll never know for sure, because the film now cuts to black and the credits roll.

Love It Follows? You might want to read a deep dive into the classroom scene here.

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