Them (Ils in French) is one of a new crop of horror and thriller movies coming out of France. And, like many of its predecessors, it doesn't fail to please those looking to get a rise in their blood pressure and finger marks on their neighbor's arm.
Them is light on character development, offering just enough to structure a premise for the plot. We encounter a young woman who's a French teacher in a school in Romania. We see her partner is a writer. They live in a big, old house in the middle of nowhere. She comes home, they have dinner, and they turn in for the night. Darkness descends over the forest surrounding their home. A perfect setup to a horror flick, right?
Soon, strange things begin to occur. A prank phone call gets them out of bed. Strange sounds raise their concerns. And, pretty soon, they fear that something is inside their house. They soon find out that they are right.
The real success of Them is that it doesn't try to shock you by portraying a lot of blood and gore. Instead, it puts you in the scene, right next to the main characters who are part of this cat-and-mouse affair, with very little knowledge of who "they" are and what "they" want. Are they people? Is it a paranormal force? Aliens? At the onset, you're not quite sure.
As the movie progresses, the true nature of the predator becomes known. But by then, a different fear takes hold, and the movie leaves you with a lasting suspense: you see that what the characters just went through is not out of this world, and is something that could indeed happen in real life.
Overall rating: 8.5 /10.0
Details:
Runtime: 77m
Country: French
Language: French, Romanian
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