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They/Them Review
3 years ago
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It’s a generic “slasher” movie with a massive LGBTQ+ cast!
Yay?
RATING: 5/10
Okay let’s jump into it. The film focuses on Jordan, a teen/young adult who goes to a conversion camp alongside a bunch of other characters who are also within the LGBTQ+ group. Some are gay, some are lesbians, two are bisexual, one is transgender, and Jordan is non-binary. The camp is run by a bunch of counselors who are a group of middle-aged and/or old white people. They say that they approve of the teens/young adults’ lifestyles and that they aren’t trying to make them straight at all. They just want them to accept themselves and be happier with their lives. Because they absolutely are genuinely nice people.
“Jake, are the villains of the movie the old white people?”
If you’re already asking that question, then you know the answer.
So the movie starts off fine. The cast is divided off to the boys and girls. Everyone opens up during a group therapy session, exposing why they’re all there and that they all want to be happy. Or they want their parents’ approval. Or that their parents made them a deal to take them to a concert or something of that nature. Some even came willingly. Everyone starts bonding, but then things get…weird. And Jordan looks around the camp and finds some…secrets. And then things turn into emotional and mental and psychological torture. And eventually bad things happen and shit hits the fan in the last fifteen minutes!
“But I thought this was a slasher movie?”
Yeah that’s not important. The movie really isn’t a slasher; it’s a drama movie with some horror elements sprinkled in as well as a dash of revenge. Ultimately this movie is about the struggles of all these teens/young adults trying to keep their sanity in this camp. Because eventually some of the counselors start doing things that fuck with the teens’ minds and may or may not be blatantly homophobic and/or transphobic.
There are scenes that are gonna trigger people in this movie, just gonna put that out there now. There’s one scene involving a dog; one particular shower scene; one scene where someone sexually harasses another person. Which I actually appreciated, because it’s a female-on-female scene, and both women in question are very standard, pretty, young women. The scene is not played for laughs; the scene is not shot to look sexy; it is absolutely as horrifying as it would be if a man sexually harassed a woman or another man. And that’s really rare to see depicted in film nowadays.
There’s a song number…um. I kind of liked it? It kinda just happens but I thought it was kinda cute, and the overall point behind it.
There’s one plot twist that I didn’t expect, but when it happened, I just went like “Oh, okay.” And it applies to the conversion therapy plot, not the slasher plot.
…You know it’s weird. I’m sitting here making this review and had all this shit planned out to say, but now there’s really not a whole lot to be said. And I feel like that’s the problem with this movie. I don’t think people will be talking about the film itself. They’re going to talk around the film. This was another film that was blatantly promoted and created to fool you into thinking it’s a slasher flick, when it clearly is not. Yeah, some people get murdered, but that’s not until the last twenty minutes. Yeah, what happens in the movie is horrifying, but except for one scene of torture, nothing in the film really goes all out. And when you find out who the killer is, all the tension in the movie goes away because you know who they’re gonna target.
So basically you have a movie about conversion therapy. And that part of the film is actually rather good! I liked the first hour of the film with how it set up the characters and all their personal flaws and dilemmas. But when bodies start dropping, all that shit is thrown out the door and it becomes a whodunit plot with the most obvious reveal ever. And the movie ends on a message of “No one is gonna tell us who we are anymore. We’re gonna live our lives the way we wanna and no homophobes or transphobes are gonna stop us!”
And I’m all like:
“…Okay so we’re not gonna acknowledge that a chunk of people just died? No? That was completely irrelevant and didn’t need to be in the film? Okay cool.”
I dunno what else to say. It’s a drama about people being sent to a conversion therapy camp. Lots of triggering scenes happen. Characters who are old and white are revealed to be hypocritical, homophobic, and/or transphobic. There’s an obvious killer on the loose. The killer’s identity is obvious. The people who get killed off in the movie are obvious. The killer’s motivation is obvious. The outcome of the climax is obvious. The resolution and moral of the film is obvious. And because the film had to be a slasher and it got in the way of everything that had been set up beforehand, I just walked away from this movie going “Okay…so what the fuck? What was the point of all this?”
I feel like this review is a metaphor for the film itself. For a movie with so many triggering and controversial subjects and topics, at the end of the day, I don’t have much to say that isn’t blatantly apparent that any average moviegoer has seen before done better. I actually saw a review online while making this review and even he pointed out that the film itself contradicts its own message. The film preaches that you shouldn’t be afraid of who or what you are and live proudly, yet the movie is too afraid to be an actual horror film despite marketing itself as one.
So yeah, those are my thoughts. Would I recommend you see this film?
Um…
…
…No. Unless you wanna see a “horror” movie comprised with a massive LGBTQ+ cast. But even then, this movie is Peacock exclusive. So if you don’t have Peacock and don’t feel like using a week-free trial just to see this movie, or you just don’t feel like making another account for another streaming service, then skip it.
Like I said earlier, nothing this movie did personally offended me. It’s just bland. And after seeing Antebellum, a movie that makes me livid whenever I bring it up and is one of the most offensive movies I’ve seen in my entire life, They/Them could’ve been so, so much worse. And at least now there’s a slasher movie out there where most of the cast is prominently in the LGBTQ+ group.
Regardless of how you feel about the movie, that’s something.
Yay?
RATING: 5/10
Okay let’s jump into it. The film focuses on Jordan, a teen/young adult who goes to a conversion camp alongside a bunch of other characters who are also within the LGBTQ+ group. Some are gay, some are lesbians, two are bisexual, one is transgender, and Jordan is non-binary. The camp is run by a bunch of counselors who are a group of middle-aged and/or old white people. They say that they approve of the teens/young adults’ lifestyles and that they aren’t trying to make them straight at all. They just want them to accept themselves and be happier with their lives. Because they absolutely are genuinely nice people.
“Jake, are the villains of the movie the old white people?”
If you’re already asking that question, then you know the answer.
So the movie starts off fine. The cast is divided off to the boys and girls. Everyone opens up during a group therapy session, exposing why they’re all there and that they all want to be happy. Or they want their parents’ approval. Or that their parents made them a deal to take them to a concert or something of that nature. Some even came willingly. Everyone starts bonding, but then things get…weird. And Jordan looks around the camp and finds some…secrets. And then things turn into emotional and mental and psychological torture. And eventually bad things happen and shit hits the fan in the last fifteen minutes!
“But I thought this was a slasher movie?”
Yeah that’s not important. The movie really isn’t a slasher; it’s a drama movie with some horror elements sprinkled in as well as a dash of revenge. Ultimately this movie is about the struggles of all these teens/young adults trying to keep their sanity in this camp. Because eventually some of the counselors start doing things that fuck with the teens’ minds and may or may not be blatantly homophobic and/or transphobic.
There are scenes that are gonna trigger people in this movie, just gonna put that out there now. There’s one scene involving a dog; one particular shower scene; one scene where someone sexually harasses another person. Which I actually appreciated, because it’s a female-on-female scene, and both women in question are very standard, pretty, young women. The scene is not played for laughs; the scene is not shot to look sexy; it is absolutely as horrifying as it would be if a man sexually harassed a woman or another man. And that’s really rare to see depicted in film nowadays.
There’s a song number…um. I kind of liked it? It kinda just happens but I thought it was kinda cute, and the overall point behind it.
There’s one plot twist that I didn’t expect, but when it happened, I just went like “Oh, okay.” And it applies to the conversion therapy plot, not the slasher plot.
…You know it’s weird. I’m sitting here making this review and had all this shit planned out to say, but now there’s really not a whole lot to be said. And I feel like that’s the problem with this movie. I don’t think people will be talking about the film itself. They’re going to talk around the film. This was another film that was blatantly promoted and created to fool you into thinking it’s a slasher flick, when it clearly is not. Yeah, some people get murdered, but that’s not until the last twenty minutes. Yeah, what happens in the movie is horrifying, but except for one scene of torture, nothing in the film really goes all out. And when you find out who the killer is, all the tension in the movie goes away because you know who they’re gonna target.
So basically you have a movie about conversion therapy. And that part of the film is actually rather good! I liked the first hour of the film with how it set up the characters and all their personal flaws and dilemmas. But when bodies start dropping, all that shit is thrown out the door and it becomes a whodunit plot with the most obvious reveal ever. And the movie ends on a message of “No one is gonna tell us who we are anymore. We’re gonna live our lives the way we wanna and no homophobes or transphobes are gonna stop us!”
And I’m all like:
“…Okay so we’re not gonna acknowledge that a chunk of people just died? No? That was completely irrelevant and didn’t need to be in the film? Okay cool.”
I dunno what else to say. It’s a drama about people being sent to a conversion therapy camp. Lots of triggering scenes happen. Characters who are old and white are revealed to be hypocritical, homophobic, and/or transphobic. There’s an obvious killer on the loose. The killer’s identity is obvious. The people who get killed off in the movie are obvious. The killer’s motivation is obvious. The outcome of the climax is obvious. The resolution and moral of the film is obvious. And because the film had to be a slasher and it got in the way of everything that had been set up beforehand, I just walked away from this movie going “Okay…so what the fuck? What was the point of all this?”
I feel like this review is a metaphor for the film itself. For a movie with so many triggering and controversial subjects and topics, at the end of the day, I don’t have much to say that isn’t blatantly apparent that any average moviegoer has seen before done better. I actually saw a review online while making this review and even he pointed out that the film itself contradicts its own message. The film preaches that you shouldn’t be afraid of who or what you are and live proudly, yet the movie is too afraid to be an actual horror film despite marketing itself as one.
So yeah, those are my thoughts. Would I recommend you see this film?
Um…
…
…No. Unless you wanna see a “horror” movie comprised with a massive LGBTQ+ cast. But even then, this movie is Peacock exclusive. So if you don’t have Peacock and don’t feel like using a week-free trial just to see this movie, or you just don’t feel like making another account for another streaming service, then skip it.
Like I said earlier, nothing this movie did personally offended me. It’s just bland. And after seeing Antebellum, a movie that makes me livid whenever I bring it up and is one of the most offensive movies I’ve seen in my entire life, They/Them could’ve been so, so much worse. And at least now there’s a slasher movie out there where most of the cast is prominently in the LGBTQ+ group.
Regardless of how you feel about the movie, that’s something.
