Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
They/Them is a slasher movie set at an LGBT conversion therapy camp. It stars Kevin Bacon, who was in the original Friday the 13th.
They/Them begins with a murder. A woman is driving down a country road at night when on of her tires gets blown out. She gets out of the car to discover someone in the woods and is quickly murdered.
The film then cuts to the LGBT campers arriving early to Whistler Camp. The camp is run by Owen Whistler (Kevin Bacon), whose family started it years ago. Owen introduces himself to the campers with a smile and explains that they’re not trying to convert them, unless that’s what they want. He then introduces them to the staff, which includes his wife, Dr. Cora Whistler (Carrie Preston), who is a psychologist; former camper Zane (Boone Platt) and his wife Sarah (Hayley Griffith), who teach the campers how to behave in compliance with gender roles; Molly (Anna Chlumsky), the nurse; and Balthazar (Mark Ashworth), the handyman.
Owen assigns the group to their sleeping cabins by separating them into boys and girls. Jordan, who is transexual and non-binary, isn’t comfortable going to either. Owen and Jordan talk about Jordan’s identity and pronouns before assigning them to the boys’ cabin.
It doesn’t take long to discover that the camp activities are meant to force the campers to comply to gender norms, and the one-on-one sessions with Cora are designed to break them down emotionally. Once the group of campers realizes the truth behind Whistler Camp, the killing begins.
Some Thoughts:
They/Them has many similarities to Friday the 13th. It starts with a murder, takes place at a camp, has Kevin Bacon, and ends with the killer’s identity being discovered. What sets it apart from Friday the 13th is that it has a purpose aside from sheer entertainment.
Everything you want in a slasher is in They/Them. There’s suspense, a ridiculous backstory, and teenage sex. The inclusion of the counselors playing head games with the campers is a thoughtful bonus that adds to the chills and thrills.
Because They/Them doesn’t start with a backstory scene, it spends too much time having Jordan discover the camp’s history. This takes away from the joy of this type of horror. If they wanted to keep the discovery portion of the plot, then they would have to cut back on the relationships between the campers. That would mean cutting the scene where the group sing “Fuckin’ Perfect,” which was so foolish that I ate it up.
Another aspect of a good slasher is having interesting murders. The killings in They/Them are okay, but they’re not the type of thing that people are going to talk about. With so many slasher films out there today, it’s not easy to be original, but this movie doesn’t even try. A good slasher should have at least one memorable death scene, and They/Them doesn’t have any.
And while I enjoyed the head game/psychological horror elements to the story, it comes across as a distraction. There are many types of horror (psychological, slasher, religious, ghost, monster, etc…) and they tend to be very segregated. While you can mix them, it’s not easy to do well. Unfortunately, They/Them would have been better if it stuck to being a slasher. It doesn’t work as a psychological/slasher film.
Final Verdict:
They/Them suffers from not having a focus on the type of horror movie it wants to be. If you’re a slasher horror fan, They/Them is going to disappoint; and if your thing is a more psychologically chilling story, you’re not going to find it here.