Courtesy of Miramax Films
A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of my favorite horror films, so, yeah, you could say I’m a big fan of Wes Craven. Love or hate them, he gave us two of the more iconic exploitation films in The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes. He sparked a wave of supernatural horror slashers with Freddy Krueger and rejuvenated the slasher genre once again with Scream. To say that Craven was influential would be an understatement. He was a master of horror. A legend gone too soon. And by all accounts, a great human being.
The filmmaker’s massive success eventually allowed him to use his status to support other talent as a producer. With that dream-making stamp of approval, Craven produced films such as Mind Ripper and the ultimate millennial vampire movie, Dracula 2000. One that has been left in the shadows, however, is They, a grim creature feature that you can now stream on Paramount+.
What is They About, you ask?
Psych student Julia (Laura Regan) is on the brink of finishing her master’s. But after witnessing the suicide of her terrified childhood friend, Billy (Jon Abrahams), she finds her reality slipping. Shadows move in the corner of her eye. She senses something in the darkness watching her. Is she experiencing PTSD after the death of a close friend? Or are the monsters that haunted their nightmares as kids real? Billy believed “They” would one day return to take them to their dark realm. He just might be right.
A Grim Early-Aughts Creature Feature
Released just after Thanksgiving in 2002, the reviews for They were not kind. It currently sits with a 38% percent critical approval score on Rotten Tomatoes. Poor word of mouth led to a box office that withered and died in the dark. I’m not necessarily surprised that They slipped into the forgotten bowels of time. While I won’t declare They as some must-see gem that you’ve never heard of, it does make for a creepy experience that presented fresh ideas for the time.
Director Robert Harmon (who also directed the Rutger Hauer chiller The Hitcher) infuses They with an impenetrable sense of dread. The film captures a period when everyone was on edge, and color seemed to disappear from the world. There’s not one frame of They that isn’t drenched in a dirty darkness creeping into the light. Befitting of the film’s ugly depiction of depression and the unheard screams of those suffering from mental illness.
If you watch They for the first time today, the premise may seem tired, what with its gangly guy monsters who flee from the light, but that wasn’t as common in the early aughts as it is now. Dread’s own Josh Korngut wrote about the film previously, taking care to cautiously praise it for a “fairly unique premise.” As Korngut points out, Darkness Falls and Lights Out would each revisit the “stay-in-light-or-die trope,” adding, “I don’t think it’s fair to begrudge They for the sins of its kin.” Instead of bashing the film, we ought to give it proper recognition for the intriguing, yet overdone trend it helped create.
Whether Craven had a heavy hand in They or little to nothing to do with it, I don’t know. That said, the film makes for a curious if not mildly effective chiller worth seeking out for anyone intrigued by Craven’s work as a producer. If that’s you, then you’ll want to turn on the lights and stream They now that it’s on Paramount+. Maybe keep a flashlight close by just in case the power goes out.
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