This foreign shocker saw strong word of mouth and critical acclaim lead to the directing duo behind it nabbing the gig of remaking The Eye, and whilst it is quite chilling, the finale’s revelation left me dissatisfied.
The film begins as a mother and her teenaged daughter crash their car in the middle of a stormy night. The car won’t start and the two women are attacked by something or someone. The next night, Clem and Lucas (a school teacher and novelist respectively) settle down in their rambling country mansion house for the night, only to be woken by strange noises. What follows is a night of unspeakable terror at the hands of Them.
Apparently based on a true story (which I quite frankly believe after the night I had last night), Them works really well up until the last twenty minutes or so when it becomes clear what is going on. Whilst plausible, I fail to see how the two lead characters could have given up so easily once they realized what they were up against. That said, the film looks great, is effectively creepy and has a couple of good jumps in it too.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Them, or Ils as it is known in its native France, is a decent enough chiller which makes social comment about a very real problem present in society, it also has an unhappy ending, but once the film finishes you realize how silly it is.
