So skilfully does the film shield its hand that the final "reveal" actually comes as a disappointment - the enigma was truly much harder to bear.
Them (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:52
Fresh:32
Rotten:20
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: Suspenseful and tense from start to finish, the French horror film Them proves that a lack of gore doesn't mean a dearth of scares.
Theatrical Release:26-01-2007
Synopsis: Somewhere in Romania; Clementine is finishing her day of teaching the local kids French. On her way home she spots an abandoned vehicle beside the road. She continues on unaware of what happened to... Somewhere in Romania; Clementine is finishing her day of teaching the local kids French. On her way home she spots an abandoned vehicle beside the road. She continues on unaware of what happened to its occupants, a mother and her teenage daughter, the night before. Not that it matters, as tonight, along with her writer beau Lucas, she'll find out first hand. They're awakened during the night by strange phone calls and the TV downstairs being turned on--but this is only beginning of their night of terror as the phone lines go dead, the power goes out and their car goes missing, as they're stalked and set upon by THEM! [More]
Starring: Olivia Bonamy, Michael Cohen
Starring: Olivia Bonamy, Michael Cohen
Director: Xavier Palud, David Moreau
Director: Xavier Palud, David Moreau
Screenwriter: Xavier Palud, David Moreau
Producer: Richard Grandpierre
Composer: René-Marc Bini
Studio: Dark Sky Films
Reviews for Them
This superb horror thriller breaks violently into your consciousness, robbing you of all sense of security.
Plenty of jolts and some pleasingly spooky scenes, with the tension ratcheted up to fever pitch, but then it all falls to pieces with a badly fumbled ending.
The nature of the couple’s tormentors makes the action scarier than it would have been with, say, a supernatural monster, but it also represents a cheap and nasty move by Moreau and Palud.
Claustrophobic and exhausting, Them fumbles its payoff but reminds us why French chillers are a rare but thrilling treat.
A perfectly-fine stripped-down little horror movie and if you're not a hardcore horror fan you'll probably find some of it surprising.
A 20-minute calling card short extended to a tolerance-stretching 74 minutes, this is an effectively directed but ultimately pointless wind-up exercise.
Just one long unendurably tense and frightening sequence, beginning with the terrified couple waking in the middle of the night and having to creep downstairs, extended like a violin string about to snap.
No story-structure, no succession of scary scenes and then ordinary-life scenes to clean the palate. Just one long unendurably tense and frightening sequence.
Effective in an unambitious way, it gives a new meaning to 'Boys in the Hood'.
Has a terrific slow-burning intensity as it torments its central characters (and the audience). Although it waits a bit too long to play its trump card.
This freshman effort from the French team of David Moreau and Xavier Palud would rate an A in film school. But that doesn't mean it's worth seeing.
The fright is crafted well enough, but the twist at the end calls for more originality than filmmakers David Moreau and Xavier Palud wield.
That it is based on a true story does not compensate for the absence of either suspense or horror.
The directors have thoroughly soaked up the best of its countless predecessors, elevating Ils to highly effective and atmospheric genre entertainment.
There are moments in Them that are as powerful as anything in the genre in the last few years.
Latest News for Them
August 16, 2007:
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August 02, 2007:
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