Them (Ils) Review

After their car breaks down at night in the middle of nowhere, a bickering mother and daughter are picked off one after the other by unseen assailants. Yep, while Them (aka Ils) may open with the now familiar claim that "this story is based on real events", its introductory sequence plays out like something straight from an 1980s slasher movie. Which is to say that Them is exploitation cinema par excellence, framing supposedly real-life suffering as genre entertainment. Yet if this questionable conversion of genuine torment to horror thrills may leave a frisson of discomfort once the final credits have rolled, such unease is as nothing compared to the abject state of terror to which this film will reduce you as its harrowing events unfold before your half-hidden eyes.

For three months, Clémentine (Olivia Bonamy) has been a teacher at the French Lycée in Bucharest, while her partner Lucas (Michaël Cohen) works on his novel in their large, semi-refurbished house on the city's forest outskirts. One night a strange voice is heard on their phone - and a few hours later the couple is woken by the sound of muted music coming from outside. Their car is driven off, the power shuts out, things go bump in the night, figures are seen scurrying in the shadows, and it soon becomes clear that Clémentine and Lucas have been trapped in their own home, while someone - or something - is determined to play a deadly game of hide-and-seek with them.