User reviews

As a gay man and a lover of horror, this movie was... unsuccessful. On multiple fronts. It was almost insulting the low amount of effort put into the story and how uninspired it was.

Let's start at the beginning of the rainbow with the obvious fact that this is exploiting the LGBTQIA+ community in the most *gay eye roll* exhausted, heteronormative-perspective type of way. The nonbinary one, the sassy AA one, the jock, the popular girl, the masc girl... just riddled with tired tropes and clichés. I mean, really, there was a dang musical number and a bad one at that. I'm not even offended, it's just like, try harder lol

Moving onto the next color, the acting. We don't need to harp on this, but it was bad. All around. Not even my man Kevin could save this one (who I love and the only person who did a good job). A smorgasbord of stilted and overacted performances.

As far as the plot goes, this is where we get to the heart of minimal effort and uninspired clichés. This was not scary, it was not thrilling, it was barely engaging and it was most certainly predictable.

I am never overwhelmingly negative with my reviews but I am struggling to retrieve any redeeming qualities with this one. If you are going to perpetuate stereotypes, at least entertain me while doing so. I don't think I have to reiterate this, but I would not recommend this one.

(Also my first review got deleted cause it got too many likes, sorry your movie is bad?)

I decided to watch this movie just because Kevin was in it, thought surely it must be good, Kevin is in it! ...It wasn't.

10 minutes in it was obvious who the killer was. Question was "why?"... and that wasn't revealed until later and it was so underwhelming.

Was hoping for some indiscriminate killing and people running around screaming for their lives, hiding, fearing... None of it. That's what I expected going into the movie...

First of all: I'm gay myself and I'm a horror and slasher fan.

The first minutes of the movie were pretty good and gave me big hopes that the rest of the movie was going to be the same.

Well, it wasn't.

The movie wasn't even horror or a slasher, because there was absolutely no tension, and the murderer was after nobody I would really care for. The whole movie just felt like a personal revenge killing spree that was only made to attract and feed a Gen Z they/them audience. I just kept guessing who the murderer was, but even that wasn't really hard if you could count to 3.

On top of the boring story, almost nobody of the main characters was likeable and the main protagonist Theo Germaine had the expressional acting bandwidth of a rock. The character development and their background stories were so shallow that it rather felt like a camp of deaf-mutes. There was almost zero dialogue that would reveal anything meaningful about the characters.

Sadly, neither Kevin Bacon nor Carrie Preston (known from True Blood) were able to save the movie from the poor script. Please try again and get better writers because this was thumbs down deluxe.

This is not a horror movie. The pacing and plot elements and cinematography would lead one to think so, but it is not. Interesting premise that is totally wasted with a terrible script and bizarre acting. The *very* few scenes involving violence are predictable and WHAT ON EARTH is Kevin Bacon doing in this movie?

The "twist" at the end is a mediocre excuse to try and make a social statement. I have no idea what that statement is, but I do know that this movie was a waste of my time.

They/Them is a dissatisfying slasher that has interesting ideas, and a decent first half. But quickly divulges into a dull and uninspired slasher.

Starting off with the good, Kevin Bacon and Theo Germaine are very good with the material their given. Theo Germaine especially is a standout as this actor gives some surprising depth to their character. Speaking of depth all of these young kids actually have some character scenes that feel real. There's quite a bit of great emotional scenes between these characters which really made the film more grounded. And the first half of this film was actually somewhat decent. The physiological horror is actually done pretty well.

However despite some good ideas and good character moments, this film is a tonal mess from the last 30 minutes. The pacing is way too slow, in fact it's not really even a slasher for about 75 minutes. The movie builds to really nothing. It almost makes the slasher part of the film feel unnecessary, and almost a completely different film than the first half. The kills are very dull and uninventive, there's no creativity here. There's no tension or even any chase scenes. The movie falls back on a lot of horror clichés, and it made the final act very boring and disappointing. There's also some really bad editing in the final 20 minutes that make some scenes involving a certain character and the killer make no sense. And finally the killer was blatantly obvious. It's a terrible twist that you can see coming a mile away and really it makes you look back and see that none of our protagonist were in actual danger with the killer

Overall They/Them has an interesting premise, but doesn't do anything with that premise and offers no thrills, no blood, awful motivation, and a lack of scares.

My biggest problem with this movie is with how it was sold to me: A horror flick based at a Christian conversion camp. There was a couple of plot "twists" that weren't really twists, mainly because one of them made zero sense at all, and the other was completely predictable. I'm sure most reviewers will complain it was too progressive, but that didn't really bother me once I accepted what it wasn't: a horror movie. Once I got past that, then it was easy to be annoyed with what I was tricked by the trailer into watching: A crappy teen drama that was SUPER heavy-handed in character development and very little else. If I didn't know any better, I'd guess this was a pilot for a new teen drama about LGBTQ kids united by trauma at a Christian conversion camp on Peacock. They wouldn't even have to change the title.

OMG! I actually had to double check if this was the right movie,that I remember advertised.

Must of been drunk or something to even slightly consider this watchable,let alone a horror/thriller genre.

It was boring.. Like they took all the best parts out & left us with slop,even Kevin Bacon couldn't salvage this.

Horrible script & acting plus,full of clichés as well plotholes.. Those claiming low reviews are due to LGBT+ hate or saying it has a Friday the 13th vibe,are the ones misrepresenting the movie truth.

The musical number although misplaced in this style film,was actually one of the better parts.. lol.

Had more dramatic parts & maybe 5% horror,if you are rating it like that.

Just skip it! Find something more fitting genre-wise,only watch if you're desperate or like any actor.

I really don't understand the low rating 2.5 for They/Them because the movie is actually pretty good. Good characters, rational plot, a storyline you can follow. I really liked it more than i thought i would. A solid, thoughtful entry into the horror/slasher genre.

But for all the naysayers: spoiler alert, there are gay people. Gasp.

So, this isn't a great movie, but it's solid. I give it a 7.5 (rounded up to 8) for a few reasons ("soft" spoilers):

It's got heart. Lots of good, affirming messages and you really care for some of the characters.

Solid performances. Bacon is good as always, but so are all the main actors/actresses; I hope we see more from some of these young talents. (Chlumsky has some good moments too).

Originality. As far as I know, this is the 1st summer camp horror/suspense/slasher movie done in this particular way with these particular characters. It's very timely and relevant.

This is more of a suspense/thriller than slasher or horror movie. In that sense, the main tension in the plot derives from a "what's going on? When will all be fully revealed?" type of narrative. And there are some good twists, though I did see the major one coming about 3/4 of the way through (though I wasn't totally sure until it did manifest).

My only real major criticism isn't really even a fair one as it has to do with the budget/production which is just adequate. But that's to be expected for the type of movie this is.

A more minor criticism is that this lacks some "action"; but it's far from boring or a drama. It just relies more on character driven tension than bodies being piled up (which frankly I find boring: "oh here we go again; another teen alone outside at summer camp, gee I wonder what will happen...yep, now we're seeing him/her through the eyes of the murderer through the branches...gee wonder what will happen...is this murder 8 or 9?).

In the end, give it a try if you're looking for something different (or at least a different twist on an old theme), some emotive performances, some interesting characters you actually care for, and an overall plot that you can invest in and care about what happens.

This may be a slasher film, but the real horror here is the camp.

A group of kids arrive at a gay conversion camp and suffer at the hands of the camp attendants whilst another possible horror awaits in the forest. The slasher element of this movie is a troupe that has appeared in film for many decades but here the bigger horror is what is happening to the kids and the slasher element feels like it was tagged onto the end rather than being the driving force.

The dynamics between the kids are well developed with the pacing of the movie giving us time to explore and get to know the characters, the camp attendants led by Kevin Bacon gradually develop into a sinister and frightening crew.

Overall this is a good film, it could have been great if the team making it had realised that the added slasher element was not necessary.

The title is literally the only thing in this movie that was original. Entire movie was predictable once we knew it was going to use the same old tropes.

A complete mockery of the actual trauma kids go through at conversion camps. The portrayal of transgender and gay youth is an absolute caricature. Even if you attempt to ignore all of that it's not a good movie. Slow, boring, bad acting.

Did they really have to include shooting a dog in the movie? Was that necessary? Throw the entire movie in the garbage! I wanted to like the movie to support the community but it was just bad!

Probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my entire life. Predictable even for toddlers. Terrible acting, hilarious plot, characters nobody really likes.

But terrible execution. Predictable, poorly paced, bad script. The acting from the adult cast (Bacon, Chulmsky, Preston) was great, but just a wasted opportunity all around.

There is a MUSICAL NUMBER halfway through. I don't know if it was supposed to be comedic relief or what, but.. yikes yikes yikes

May I suggest reading the book "Surrender Your Sons" by Adam Sass instead? It's a similar plot, but done so much better than this movie.

I actually decided to check this film out after hearing the premise. The opening gave a standard tone setting kill and then the movie just fell flat. The cast are all cartoons and once everyone was introduced I'm sad to say I immediately figured out who the killer was and their motivation.

The movie desperately wants to tackle important topics but lacks the skill to do so in a smart way. Some scenes you can tell the writer pat themselves on the back thinking they did something and it just wasn't good.

They/Them works better as an after school special than a slasher and if you edit out the 20ish mins of actual horror it world be just that. I'm fine with more representation in horror but I'd like it without sacrificing the horror.

Imagine a more extreme "But I'm a Cheerleader" with a killer running around ha! I actually enjoyed this even though some of the acting was terrible. A campy, lgbtq+ slasher!? I'm in. Give it a shot.

The idea behind this movie is very much "But I'm a Cheerleader" mixed with an attempted "Scream" movie in the woods. A lot of typical tropes are used throughout, and it only gets interesting towards the end. Predictability is a killer for slasher movies (pun intended). The side stories with the campers throughout kept it interesting, but it's easy to guess the ending(s) before you're halfway through.

It's so sad how people rate movies without seeing them. And give 1 stars just because they don't like the plot they read in one sentence. And hate the title just because of the current pronouns trend. Let people watch and enjoy movies they care about, and actually want to see them. And leave the prejudices and hate for some private time that you could spend elsewhere.

About the movie, it's really interesting if you're into that vibe, I love camp horror movies, like Friday the 13th obviously. The cast is great too. It doesn't try to be more than it is - a typical slasher summer camp movie for the 2020s. Except for some twists that I didn't like, it's a great movie to watch for a summertime horror fun.

Overall, worth seeing and THEN rating it according to your opinion.

They/Them gives us a somewhat interesting group of LGBTQ kids to pull for and then doesn't put them in any jeopardy whatsoever. Who are we supposed to be scared for? The homophobic camp counselors? It all comes to a head during the insulting ending which has me wanting to break my TV. Avoid at all costs!