I resolved this year to see at least one thing in the Film Festival, so I went to see a (very) late showing of Them last night. I get the feeling they were hoping this might be the next Blair Witch, I’m not convinced — but then I didn’t like Blair Witch either.
I have to admit that midnight, after several beers, is probably not the best time for me to be seeing a movie and I was on the verge of dozing off several times — this may be part of the reason I didn’t really get into the film. The beginning is good but hasn’t got a lot to do with the rest of the movie, I’d have rather they’d have spent that time introducing the main characters. As it is you see next-to-nothing of the two leads before everything rapidly goes to hell in a handcart, this just leads to me not really caring what happens to them and I think that’s where the film lost me. From there it didn’t really do anything or go anywhere that I haven’t seen before. It does get bonus points for realism, everyone’s actions are sensible, the settings are plausible (although I’m not so convinced about the forest of plastic sheeting in one part) and whatever is messing with them never feels supernatural. This is all probably because the film is (loosely) based on real life events, you’re reminded of this at the very end of the film which I suspect is aiming to be ‘chilling’. I thing the end is designed to give you an uneasy feeling when you leave the cinema, my thought was simply “that’s a cute ending”, I was more unnerved by having to walk home in the rain.
It’s a good solid film, it’s probably worth seeing at a reasonable time while not half pissed. I wasn’t blown away by it but I might have been on a different day. To be fair most of the audience I was with seemed to really enjoy it, they even burst into applause at the end, so maybe it’s just me being fickle perhaps it’ll be a big autumn hit if it gets a wide release.