Them (2006 film)

:"For the films of the same name, see Them (film) or Them!."

Infobox Film
name = Them


image_size =
caption = Original French poster for "Them"
director = David Moreau Xavier Palud
producer = Richard Grandpierre
writer = David Moreau Xavier Palud
narrator =
starring = Olivia Bonamy Michaël Cohen
music = René-Marc Bini
cinematography = Axel Cosnefroy
editing = Nicolas Sarkissian
distributor =
released = flagicon|France July 19, 2006
flagicon|US August 17, 2007
runtime = 74 min.
country = France
language = French
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.ils-lefilm.com/
amg_id = 1:355175
imdb_id = 0465203

"Them" ( _fr. Ils) is a French Horror film released in 2006, directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud.

Olivia Bonamy plays Clementine, a young teacher, who has recently moved from France to a remote but idyllic country house near Bucharest, Romania with her lover Lucas, played by Michaël Cohen.

Synopsis

A couple who have recently moved from France to a rural part of Romania are awakened in the middle of the night by a series of disturbing noises. Lucas goes to investigate outside, and witnesses their car being stolen by people. Attempts to report the crime to the local police are unsuccessful, and soon the couple realize that the mysterious people have returned, and are attempting to enter the house.

Story

Reputedly based on real events, the film opens with a mother and daughter driving along a deserted country road at night. During an argument the mother swerves to avoid a figure in the road and crashes into a wooden post. She gets out to check the engine, as the car will not start, while her daughter waits in the car. After a period of silence the daughter calls to her mother. Receiving no reply, she gets out. Her mother is gone. She calls for her mother and her call is repeated from the surrounding woods by a whispery voice. Scared, she gets back into the car. Suddenly, noises come from the woods around her and mud is thrown against the windows. The young girl tries desperately to contact the police using a cell phone but she is strangled to death from behind.

The next day, Clementine, driving home from work, passes the crashed car, unaware of the previous night's events. She is greeted at home by her lover, Lucas. The two settle in for the night, enjoying dinner and watching television. After the two go to bed, Clemintine is awakened by music from downstairs. Lucas goes down to investigate. He finds the TV back on. He reactively swings a poker at a sudden movement and shatters the glass in a french door. The door is then pushed from behind, causing a large fragment of glass to bury itself in his leg. Frantically, he escapes back up to Clementine in the bedroom above, and the two lock the door and try to formulate an escape plan. Clementine then climbs into the attic to find an escape route. As Clementine searches the attic one of the intruders grabs her from behind, she fights him off and pushes him off her third story balcony. The intruder's body is soon surrounded by several other people. The couple find themselves surrounded and make a desperate attempt to escape the house.

The pair succeed in escaping and manage to limp out into the surrounding woodland. They soon find they are being followed, and hide in some undergrowth as the invaders run past. They head deeper into the woods, only to encounter a fence. Due to his injury, Lucas cannot climb. So he waits behind, hiding in the bushes as Clementine heads for help. As she runs through the forest, Clementine notices she is being surrounded. She spots an isolated car and runs to it. Inside, she tries to start the car to no avail, as the attackers close in.

Lucas limps from the bushes upon hearing Clementine's screams, and finds the car crashed into a tree. He kills one of the attackers and discovers it is merely a young boy. He follows Clementine's screams and finds an uncovered manhole. In the sewers, he finds Clementine being tortured by a teenage boy while another sits nearby telling the torturer to stop as he's hurting her. Sneaking up behind him, Lucas kills him. With the help of the younger boy, the two escape through the sewer system. However as the attackers catch up on them, the boy turns on them, causing Lucas to fall as they try to escape up a ladder. Clementine watches in horror as her partner is dragged away. As Clementine is about to kill the boy with a large rock, he turns to Clementine and asks, "Why won't you play with us?" Clementine throws the rock at the young boy and begins her escape through the remaining tunnels to the surface. Clementine eventually finds a gridded sewer entrance leading out onto a highway, but the grid is locked, and she is dragged off to the same terrible fate as Lucas.

The film ends with shots of the countryside and a group of hooded children running for a public bus. Just before the credits roll, it is revealed through text that the bodies of Clementine and Lucas were found five days after the events of the movie, that the intruders were children aged 10-15, and that upon interrogation, the youngest of the group revealed as an explanation of that night's events that "They" wouldn't play with us".

Reception

The film has been well received internationally, and, as of May, 2008, has an 63% (fresh) rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Jonathan Ross of the BBC calling it "77 minutes of gloriously maintained tension". It is claimed at the start that the film is based on a true story; however there has been little evidence to support this.

"True story" notes

While claiming to be based on events, the characters in "Ils" are all fictional. The "true story" in which the film was based upon involved an Austrian couple that was murdered by three teenagers in their vacation home in The Czech Republic [Lisa Nesselson [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931256.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0] , "Variety" Friday, Aug. 7, 2006, Accessed 29 April 2008] Verify credibility|date=July 2008. The number of killers, action setpieces, and follow-up information at the end of the film were fabricated by the filmmakers.

Reviews

* [http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/movies/show/them/ Review of 'Them' at the 2006 Edinburgh Film Festival]
* [http://www.cineworld.co.uk/reservation/ChoixResa.jgi?CINEMA=64&FILM=83707&VERSION= 'Them' Review by CineWorld Cinemas]
* [http://linguaromana.byu.edu/cropperolivier5 A negative review of 'Them'] at the academic journal Lingua Romana
* " [http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/them2007 Them] " at MetaCritic
* " [http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007963-them/ Them] " at Rotten Tomatoes

ee also

*"The Strangers" – a 2008 American film with a similar premise.

References