It Follows (2015) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The curse is transmitted exclusively through sexual intercourse. When someone has sex with an infected person, the curse passes to them, and the entity stops pursuing the previous carrier. This is why Hugh deliberately infected Jay, once he passed the curse to her, the entity no longer hunted him and instead began pursuing Jay.

• curse transmission
• sexual intimacy
• how it spreads
• hugh infects jay

Hugh was already infected and had been stalked by the entity for months. By passing the curse to Jay through their sexual encounter, he transferred the entity's pursuit to her, giving himself freedom from the constant threat. He explained this to Jay by showing her the woman who had originally infected him, demonstrating that passing the curse is the only way to survive.

• hugh motive
• jeff redmond
• why he did it
• passing the curse

The entity is an invisible, supernatural being that only infected people can see. It takes various forms, often appearing as people the victim knows or strangers, and walks slowly but never stops. It can appear anywhere and knows the victim's exact location at all times. If it catches the victim, it kills them, then pursues the person who originally passed the curse.

• the entity
• monster
• supernatural
• what is it

The entity manifests as different people, sometimes strangers, sometimes people the victim knows, like Yara at the lake or Jay's father at the pool. This ability to shapeshift makes it more psychologically terrifying and harder to recognize as a threat. It often uses forms that would not raise suspicion, allowing it to get close to victims.

• shapeshifting
• forms it takes
• appearance
• yara
• fake people

The final scene shows Jay and Paul walking down the street holding hands, with a figure walking slowly behind them. This strongly implies the entity is still pursuing Jay, meaning she never successfully passed the curse to Paul, she chose not to pass it to him when he offered. The ambiguous ending leaves the threat unresolved.

• ending
• final scene
• final shot
• ambiguous ending
• figure following

After Jay sleeps with Greg at the hospital to buy time, she later sees the entity disguised as Greg and panics, rushing into his house. Inside, she encounters the entity taking on the grotesque form of Greg's mother, which results in Greg's death. This demonstrates how the entity uses the identities of loved ones to get close to victims.

• greg mother death
• killed
• house scene

The entity always knows the victim's location regardless of distance. Jay cannot escape by moving to a different city or hiding somewhere remote. The only survival method is passing the curse to someone else through sex, which temporarily stops the entity's pursuit. This makes the threat inescapable and creates the film's oppressive tone.

• escape
• running away
• can't escape
• location tracking

Jay sleeps with Greg in the hospital as a desperate attempt to pass the curse to him and buy herself time from the entity. She hopes that by transferring the curse, she will be free from pursuit, at least temporarily. This reflects the film's central theme that survival comes at the cost of involving others.

• hospital scene
• passing curse
• greg
• desperation

If the entity catches its victim, it kills them brutally. After killing the current victim, it then pursues the person who originally passed the curse to them, creating a chain of victims. This is demonstrated when Annie is killed, and then the entity begins pursuing Hugh, who had slept with her.

• death
• what happens if caught
• killing
• consequence

Jay and her friends attempt to electrocute the entity by luring it into a swimming pool. The entity appears as Jay's father but refuses to enter the water. Instead, it throws electrical devices at her. Paul shoots the entity multiple times, causing it to sink into the pool, but it drags Jay underwater and the pool fills with blood before it disappears. The attack fails to kill it.

• pool scene
• electrocution
• father form
• paulo shoots