Them (Ils)

2006
Directors: David Moreau and Xavier Palud
Cast: Olivia Bonamy and Michael Cohen

Plot: Lucas and Clementine live peacefully in their isolated country house, but one night they wake up to strange noise... they're not alone... and a group of hooded assailants begin to terrorize them throughout the night.

Them: Just Not Scary (or Particularly Good)
by C. True

I was really sort of bummed that my tour of bloody French horror ended with Them. Especially because I’d heard good things about this movie and thought the plot sounded identical to the American film The Strangers which I had enjoyed. But something about this movie just didn’t do it for me. I was eating tortilla chips while watching it, maybe that distracted me. What was frustrating was that it felt like it should have been scary, but it in the end it was neither compelling nor frightening. Them tells the story of one harassment filmed night for a French couple, Clementine and Lucas, living in Romania. The harrassers are hooded figures, who first steal Clem’s car and then start bumpin’ and creepin’ around the property. At first the sounds and events are subtly creepy, and this movie relies on the anticipation of action which as we all know is often scarier than actual gore and violence. There’s really very little of either in this film, but there are lots of noises coming from just over there in the dark woods. The films progression is well done, building and swelling with dread and also revealing the assailants. I think it might have been scarier to not know who was committing these crimes, but Them importantly still leaves the question of why unanswered and doesn’t give too much away. The ending is chilling and faithful to the story. Why wasn’t it scary then? Maybe it was lack of character development but that’s an obvious cop-out since everyone knows character development in a horror movie is strictly optional. Maybe it was because Clem seemed such a strong female character that I didn’t fear for her, or didn’t feel that she was ever very afraid. I think this combined with the lack of any real violence or disturbing acts for most of the film might have been the downfall. Horror movie victims have to be a little bit weak, or out-numbered for you be scared for them. If there isn’t an underdog quality that is staggeringly obvious from the beginning than the viewer really needs to be scared, preferably up front, and I suspect this might be why the movie has a prologue murder. Without these murders the actions of the attackers would fall even more flat, and probably just seem like teenagers pulling a prank. Even with these murders at the onset, the attackers are underwhelming. Its scary if you cut the lights, but where is the scare in turning them back on again 10 minutes later? Things like this just reek of prank, and even knowing these hooded figures are killers didn't make me particularly scared for Clem and Lucas. I think maybe The Strangers works better with the same plot because it knows it must really scare its viewers into the mindset of the victims for the scares to work in the first place. In that movie the audience is repeatedly shown figures lurking in the shadows of doorways that the main characters do not see, and it is a creepier plot device to reveal that someone is already inside when the victim still thinks the attackers are lurking behind the safety of their door. In Them they are outside making noises, and then they are inside making louder noises, so they never really surprise attack or do anything you aren't already expecting them to do. All in all Them was a rather blasé, people who hated the very similar The Strangers will REALLY hate Them, and people who like The Strangers will see how unriveting getting harassed at your home can be when not done well.