THEM

Clémentine and Luca live in a large house lost in the Romanian forests. One night, some noises coming from outside wake up Clémentine: someone or something is trying to get into the house! With the phone line isolated and the electricity turned off, the two roommates will have to do everything to counter the siege of these indefinite presences that, it seems, have already struck in the surroundings, leaving only corpses behind. How long has it been since a horror movie was actually capable of scaring? A film can transmit unease in many different ways: by focusing on the effect of repulsion, surprising with sudden audio jumps, simply dealing with unsettling themes or making the viewer truly part of the story they are watching. "Them" has above all this last merit, that is, capturing the viewer's attention by identifying with the protagonists of the story told and thus leading them into a crescendo of tension and psychological pressure, destined not to extinguish even after the credits have appeared. Few films manage this intention, but "Them" has won the bet, proving to be a small (productively speaking) product capable of devouring in one bite a hundred other blockbusters that have enjoyed much greater visibility. Yes, visibility... a film that has received praise everywhere but which, unfortunately, in Italy has had a poor treatment: announced in theaters and then denied, postponed, distributed in a few copies and then immediately thrown onto the shelves of video rental stores and, at the same time, on satellite TV. A shame, because the work deserves it seriously! Produced in France in 2006, "Them" (originally titled "Ils") is inspired by real events, as the caption that cuts the screen at the beginning and end of the film emphasizes, and for this reason manages to instill in the viewer a greater sense of anguish, already widely provided by the skillful use of narrative and action times that directors (and screenwriters) David Moreau and Xavier Palud have managed to handle. The discourse explained by "Them", in addition to loading itself with significant sociological aspects of a reality in a dangerous state of degradation, is placed at the limit between two distinct cinematic genres although sometimes related: pure horror, almost paranormal in the narration, and siege cinema. Horror is treated in the aesthetic and narrative form of the film; the directors strive to keep the viewer in constant tension and do so with simple tricks of horror cinema (the blurred figure that suddenly appears behind, the unsettling noises, the intruding body that penetrates the frame accompanied by an alternation of sound planes, etc.) but also with refined artifices that aim at total identification with the protagonists (moving shots that often correspond with the characters' gaze, the frame that does not show what is out of the protagonists' visual reach, and so on...). The form, as well as the narrative plot, are altogether dry, minimalist: 77 minutes of duration that exactly correspond with the facts lived during the terrible night (except for the introduction that shows another event); and all this does nothing but contribute to the success of this film. Siege cinema, as was said, is strongly treated in "Them", in the sense that for most of the film, the protagonists have no choice but to defend their property from the attacks of the mysterious intruders, passing through increasingly restricted spaces (from prisoners of the entire house, they will soon become prisoners of the bathroom alone), until an explosion that will extend their range of action to the entire wooded area (always delimited, however, by the dense vegetation and fences) to then circumscribe themselves again in interiors. Effective the two lead actors Olivia Bonamy (On My Lips) and Michael Cohen (Les Misérables), sufficiently immersed in their roles; good the photography which, despite the use of digital, appears particularly cared for and the sound effects, often protagonists of the most unsettling scenes. In short, "Them" is undoubtedly a film capable of bringing the word "fear" back to the horror genre; a small example of cinematic mastery aimed at spectator suggestion and one of the best examples of horror films in recent months. Highly recommended.