THEY
US, 2002, 89 minutes, Colour.
Laura Regan, Marc Blucas, Ethan Embry, Dagmara Dominczyk, Jon Abrahams, Alexander Gould.
Directed by Robert Harmon.
They is a modest thriller, a horror story which relies on the characters as well as the audience being afraid of things that move and go bump in the night. The film opens with a young boy terrified that “They” would come to get him after the lights were turned out. They do. He grows up to be a tormented young man. He confides in his friends, especially Julia (Laura Regan) who is studying psychology. As events open up, the two friends are pursued by “They” and soon Julia herself is attacked. She goes to see a psychiatrist and relies on the help of her boyfriend (Marc Blucas). She also gets the advice of her psychology professor.
There are many scares, the heroine is tormented – especially with a chase in the New York subway. Mysterious creatures emerge and disappear. However, unlike so many other films, the film ends very unhappily with the heroine trapped in another world crying out for help but unheard.
The film was directed by Robert Harmon who, in the 1980s, made an impact with his film, The Hitcher. He worked in television, made a number of films for television and a series of Jesse Stone telemovies with Tom Selleck based on the novels by Robert B. Parker.
1.An entertaining thriller? Horror story? Mysterious creatures? The darkness and the night?
2.The prologue, the young boy, his mother, reassuring him? Searching under the bed? His fears? Lights out, the noises, the terrors? The effect on him as he grew up?
3.The New York settings, apartments, studies, psychiatrists’ offices? The use of the New York subway? The streets? Restaurants? The musical score?
4.The title, the visualising of the creatures, suggestions, lizard-like, tentacles …? Causing fear? The marks on the victims?
5.Julia, her studies, her relationship with Paul, going out with him, comfortable with him? The roommates? Their brash attitudes? Her being called to meet Billy, his torment, the restaurant, his shooting himself? His later haunting Julia?
6.The funeral, meeting Sam and Terri, Sam and his insensitivity? Terri and her concern? Sam and his art, Terri and the relationship? Her friendship with Julia, the explanations? The discussions about Billy? Terri, the swimming, her being terrorised, her disappearance? Sam, his mark, the creatures pursuing him in his gallery, his escape?
7.Julia, her becoming unnerved? The discussions with Paul? The nightmares and her fears, attacking Paul? Going to the professor, the discussions, night terrors?
8.Julia, the attack, her dream, being in the subway, the terrors of the trains, the creatures trying to drag her away, the red light? In hospital? Going to the institution?
9.Her being reassured, the doctor and Paul waiting? Her disappearance? Her being behind the room, her being able to see out, people not being able to see in? Her being in the dark tunnel with the creatures? Her crying out for help? The door closing?
10.The eeriness of the ending? A hellish situation? The overall effect of the ending on the thriller and its horrors?
