Customer Reviews

They [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(44)

 

 

How well do you remember your night fears, your fears of what went bump in the night, or what you imagined went bump in the night, from when you were a child? The closer you are to those fears, the better this movie will be for you. If you were one of those unimaginitive children who were not frightened of the dark, or if you have forgotten those fears, you will hate this movie--it won't scare you and you will think it is bad.

The acting is pretty much stock-in-trade for a horror film, meaning that it has the usual share of ups and downs.

The story gives no concrete details of what "they" are. This is one of the key points in "how well do you remember your night fears?" If you remember (if you were imaginitive enough), part of what made the dark so scary is that the fears were amorphous--all you "knew" as a kid was that there were things in the dark that were out to get you. You could imagine so many possible forms they could take, so many possible details about them, none of which were certain. Therefore, you did not know what they were, why they were after you, or how they would get you, and you had only the vaguest idea of what they looked like. You knew they kept to the shadows so that they could not be seen clearly, and you knew that when lights were shined at them, they simply were no longer there, only to reappear in another shadow or when the light was moved away.

This movie plays on those exact fears, and actually gives more details than you had as a child, details which make the creatures all the more strange and frightening. If lights make them go away, as imagined in childhood, what happens if they can make the lights go out?

I say again, if you are close to your night fears from childhood, if you remember them well and if they were highly imaginitive, this movie is for you. If not, avoid it like the plague, because you will hate it.

A lot of people don't like this film because it doesn't answer every question. It never answers why some people were chosen, and it never gives an answer how they can truly beat the creatures from the night. This is a dark movie in atmosphere and overall story. It is about not being able to beat your demons real or otherwise. Sometimes there isn't an easy answer to beat the monster(s) like in Jason or Freddy films. I would say to give it a chance.

So much better than its reputation that it's scary, "They" is a cryptic, cerebral horror movie that's like the Rorscach Test of film: what one person sees in it may be vastly different than the way another views it, and that could be the main reason behind the wildly mixed reaction it's received.

The nameless, shapeless things that scare you in your room during childhood, glimpsed in shadow or heard in silence, or suddenly perceived while half-asleep, are real. Or are they? At least one young man thinks they are, thinks they're still watching, and thinks he's discovered ways to track their patterns. After getting in contact with childhood friend (and "They"'s main protagonist) Julia Lund, Julia finds herself drawn into the 'delusions' of her friend, who shows all the signs of deep mental illness and severe paranoia. But could he still be right? A number of others experiencing the same apparant phenomenon enter the picture, and it becomes uncomfortably clear to Julia that "They" may be more than paranoid imaginations.

With great performances all around, including Laura Regan (Julia), Jon Abrahams, and perhaps most of all Dagmara Dominczyk, and alternately gloomy/eerie and gorgeous/eerie cinematography (see the nighttime road scene shrouded in fog and surrounded by dense trees) this is a seriously underrated horror movie. Some have said its weakness is it only seems to be showing the tip of the iceberg of what its capable of. I disagree with the 'weakness' part, I agree that for the vast majority of the movie it's only showing the tip of the iceberg. There's something big under the surface here, something on par, perhaps, with the likes of what H.P. Lovecraft would imagine. I'm not saying I would expect Chthulu or Yog-Sottoth to show up in a potential sequel, but that something on a really mysterious and grand scale Similar to what Lovecraft would write is (or could be) at play here. The ending is shocking. (And a hundred times preferable to the Alternate Ending, which not coincidentally was the last Alternate Ending on a movie I really loved that I ever watched. I'm kind of thinking now, 'if it's great the first time around I might be better off skipping the alternate, lest it dilute the movie in my mind'. This alternate ending kind of weakened "They" in my mind but only for a few weeks, after which it returned to its lofty status in my heart. Some people apparantly liked the alternate ending Better though, so you'll have to make up your own mind on whether you personally want to check it out) The ending also leaves room for a sequel, but they would probably need to go Really big budget if they want to really explore the entirety of that iceberg. Maybe a novelized sequel by a skilled author instead if they can't afford to do the follow-up right? Sequel or none, this movie is a great one, a good 8.5 or 9 out of ten. Also recommended (in more or less the same vein): "In The Mouth Of Madness", "Boogeyman" (2005; haven't yet seen the unrelated 80s movie of the same name), this year's stunning "Dark Water" remake (haven't seen the original yet), the "Ring" series (originals and remakes), "The Shining" (I prefer the '97 version, others prefer the '80 version), "The Sixth Sense" and science fiction's "The Arrival".

When you were a child and darkness and the rattling of thunder besieged your world, how did it make you feel? Were you one of those people that could sit in it and find yourself fearless, knowing beyond knowing that there was nothing hiding within the shadows and that Mommy and Daddy God would dispel all forms of hardship? Or were you one of the people that knew something was awry and could perhaps hear something slipping through that silent void, scratching at the boards under your bed, slightly afraid and hopeful that you parent's were right when they said that there was nothing out there? Or perhaps you were one of the even more unlucky ones, hearing the nails of those spectral hands clawing through your closet while you sat huddling underneath the covers, knowing that "they" come for you at night?

And what if that fear wasn't simply something of a childhood trauma playing out, but was something more sinister and far more real? What if those sounds had figures and they came back for you now?

Within "They," the ideas themselves are not original and the process of eliminating the characters is nothing that audiences haven't seen. All fans of the genre have heard these thoughts recycled over and over again, and all of those reprocessed affairs never seem to lead to new revelations on what being afraid truly amounts to.
But the fear that is produced therein is effective nonetheless, not really needing to be something unique to allow one to shiver and fear the dark.

By using a cascade of effects that let the shadows breathe just out of sight, you can see images that aren't quite images as they skulk into the "real world" in search of something that eludes their "reality bound," docile prey. As the movie progresses, those shadows show more and more of what they are, too, and the beasts therein seem like something out the nightmarish Silent Hill 2 while culminating on other plateaus.
As the onlooker, you find yourself sitting at a table with characters who peer into the shadows that you wouldn't want to look into, and you know that something is lurking there and that it is looking back.
Honestly, it is a frightening affair in some places.

Added to that are people that seem like people, with lives that try to mingle in the world of absolutes but that find themselves disassociated as the themes progress. From the initial blows landed, with the shock causing little reality waves to the worlds awash in nightmares, you find yourself watching faces that find themselves thrust into a world where they are, in so many ways, lost and looked at as crazy.
This leads to some moments that are a little odd and disconnected, but that are nonetheless interesting to watch because the disintegration of lives as monstrosities terrorize them is oftentimes beyond the mundane.

The one complaint I would voice is that some people jump into the pool of thought from far left field, leaving you to feel like you've missed something at first. Things do come around and are explained, mind you, but that initial confusion is something that I've never liked breeding in my mind.

Still, if you like your shadows with claws, the darkness with an agenda, and your endings unhappy, then the flaws are easily overlooked. Little kids being taken and marked, disappearing into the night, isn't something you get from a genre that has become infested with "let the little boy go" mentalities too often in this PC world of demise. Here, in those nightmarish alleyways, is something akin to horrific redemption from that fatal movie flaw and it is nice to behold.
If only the shadows bore gore, too.

I admit I was pulled in by the "Wes Craven Presents" moniker, so I expected at least a fairly scary movie. What I got was a story with mild frights, tension, and a terrible ending. The bad thing is there is an alternate ending on the disc that was much better than the original and would have greatly improved the overall movie (more on this later). The general plot involves "night terrors"; those things in the closet that scare us as a kid. As this story goes, "They" really exist and come back for us when we grow up. A young psychology student (Laura Regan) witnesses the suicide of her friend who has become so frightened that "They" will find him, that he takes his own life. She later learns that her and two friends were taken as kids and marked so "They" can find them as adults, and take them back to their world. In fact, we witness the abduction of the suicide victim in the opening scene of the film. Early on, the movie relies on mood and what we don't see to scare us. Later, we are shown the CGI generated creatures.

As I mentioned, the disc contains an alternate ending to the film. Had this ending been used, many of the stories inconsistencies would have been cleared up. I suspect the writers/director filmed the movie with one thing in mind, but shot the ending that ended up on the film due to the reaction of a test audience. That's a shame because with the alternate ending, the film would have had more of a "Wes Craven" feel. Some films are ruined by the ending and this is particularly true for a B-Grade horror flick.

The widescreen picture is sharp and clear. The Dolby 5.1 is not overly utilized, but handles the creature noises well. Other than the alternate ending, there are no other extras on the disc. Not that this movie warrants a lot of extras, but the price of the disc is fairly high for such a bare bones offering. I would have like to hear the director's reason for changing the ending. If you are a die hard fan of modern horror, there are many other titles that I would recommend before this one. Others will want to avoid it all together.

'THEY' is one of those horror flicks I love so much, regardless if it has Wes Craven's name slapped on it. It's weird, if this flick didn't play out the "don't-go-to-sleep bit", it wouldn't have seemed like a Wes Craven flick at all. Maybe that's why so many people (even Wes Craven fans), hate it, because 'THEY' doesn't answer all the questions and leaves a lot of mystery for use viewers to wonder. Yet, Wes Craven is willing to support this film. In Wes Craven's films, that's very uncommon to see. I admit, I can be one of those that just has to have all the answers. haha. Anyway, I really don't judge a movie by who's behind it or who is in support of it.

This story is also a perfect example of why it's good to have some things unanswered! It makes it fun for me when I get to use my imagination about the 'night creatures', the victims, where 'THEY' come from, and what 'THEIR' overall purpose is! It makes me want to create my own comic book that would be based on answering these questions! Sometimes it's no fun to have a film that answers all the questions; it's good to have a horror film that allows you think why things are the way they are! This is by far not the first horror film to exercise this idea. It seems that most of the younger generation have forgotten that older horror stories thrived on this style back then. Also, I admit that I was one of few who liked it but one of the many who had forgotten about it. This flick came out in 02'; it wasn't till 07', when I remembered it and had suddenly got the urge to seek it out haha.

Overall great little creeper with awesome looking creatures!

This film is well acted, has a decent story, good effects and an awesome ending. On top of that there is an alternate ending that just might be as good as the theatrical ending. This alone makes the movie worth at least a rent as alternate endings usually are synonomous with bad ideas that we swept off the cutting room floor and used as filler for the special features section of the dvd release. Maybe people are expecting nudity gratuitous violence and terribly bad language? Who knows, one thing I do know is that I adore horror films and this is one of the biggest surprises I have ever had while watching a rented movie. The impact is similar to Event Horizon, in that it is so not what you expect.

I believe that Wes Craven presents They is one hell of a movie. The atmosphere is suffocating at times and at other times it is just plain creepy. I cannot believe that Darkness Falls, an utter piece of trash film succeeded more at the box office than this stylish, offputting little excercise in thrills. This film deserves a cult following from those who understand what real cinema is. One would hope in time, They will become a dvd hit and live on forever in cinema history.

This film deserved to do better at the box-office than it did, but it is well suited for the small screen (and a stormy night with popcorn).

Amazon did a nice job describing the story and so does the product description, so don't look for anything along those lines in this particular review.

This is NOT your standard shocker as it lacks bloodshed, visible monsters, sex, slam-bang CGI effects, and gore, but the style, approach, and brooding atmosphere is similar to the rash of Asian-inspired horror films of late. Below are my hits and misses with this tidy little horror film.

The Hits:

1) The film is very well acted, especially by some newcomers to film.
2) It is intelligently written and keys in on themes and issues that many can relate to in their own lives.
3) The direction is confident, but not intrusive. One gets the impression that he knows exactly where he is going (even when he doesn't --consider the alternate ending that I personally like better than the theatrical one).
4) This film is appropriately creepy and atmospheric and I always prefer those films over the more in-your-face horror gems (that are great in their own right).


The Misses:

1) A few overly slow periods.
2) Some aspects of the film we have seen too often, such as the whole thing under the bed or in the closet idea as used in Boogeyman or the dead trying to punch a hole into our world as in Pulse.
3) The decision by the director to go with an ending from another movie and not the one originally intended and listed as the "Alternate Ending" on the DVD was, in my view, a huge error. I thought this well-crafted film would have done better with a more original ending and not one rather shamelessly copied from another film. I think most will be very satisfied with the ending and even consider it appropriate, but I prefer a bit more originality and found the ending predictable and disappointing.


Overall, this is a truly excellent "little" film that deserves more recognition. It is worth owning, but it may not have great repeat value once you really know the storyline. It's the kind of film you may watch every once in a blue moon when you forget enough of the details.


****Spoiler Alert**** Don't read if you want to have a surprise ending***
In reference to #3 under "Misses," the ending is far too similar to Carpenter's ending to his Prince Of Darkness. In that film, the heroine goes through a mirror and can't return, but sees the outside world; in this film, it's the closet acting as the mirror. It's the same exact concept, just a different venue. I still think that's cheating a bit --lol.

THEY are our childhood fears come into our adult lives. THEY hate light and live only in darkness. THEY have marked their victims as children, returning years later to take them away. THEY are creatures from a dimension of constant night. I really enjoyed this creeper! I watched it twice, once at normal brightness, then again w/ the brightness near 100%. The difference being that I could actually make out what was happening the second time around! THEY is a bleak film, intentionally muted and obscure. In reality, no one keeps rooms as dimly lit as the places in this movie! The story is interesting, the characters are believable in the context of the story, and the monsters are pretty cool. Check it out...