They (2002)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by Brendan William Hood
Directed by Robert Harmon
Starring Laura Regan, Marc Blucas, Ethan Embry, Dagmara Dominczyk, Jon Abrahams

Features:

• Alternate ending
  

Released by: Buena Vista
Region: 1
Rating: PG-13
Anamorphic: Yes

My Advice: Rent it.

Julia (Regan) is living a high-stress life. While attempting to finish her master's thesis in psychology and working as a bike messenger in the big city, one of her childhood friends is apparently going insane. The two of them have always been close because of their shared experiences with night terrors growing up. Only now, Billy is convinced that his night terrors weren't dreams, and something horrific is stalking him for nefarious purposes unknown. While confessing all this to Julia one night, Billy snaps and blows his brains out in the midst of a crowded diner.

Julia pulls herself together as best she can, but the job and the thesis won't wait, and no amount of cajoling by boyfriend Paul (Blucas) can convince her to take it easy. She buries herself in her work, hoping to put off dealing with this trauma until after finals. But at the funeral, she meets Sam (Embry) and Terry (Dominczyk), friends of Billy's from college. They, too, suffered night terrors, and have heard Billy's wild theories. The only difference is that they seemed more inclined to believe Billy was onto something than Billy was on something.

They is a straight-up horror flick in the "things that go bump in the night" vein. Rather than try and explain where the monsters under the bed come from, the picture just flatly asserts that they exist, and wastes no time in attempting to convince viewers with semi-reasonable arguments or mythologically credible backstory. Monsters = real. 'Nuff said. Drawing on the things that terrified almost everyone to some extent as children, the movie is quite successful in putting together a white-knuckle suspense that will occasionally jump out and startle you nearly out of your skin.

But then, despite this promise, the script introduces a few elements that don't really go anywhere and don't seem consistent. Part of the theory on how They operate is that they snatch kids as children, implant them with something, and then come back and track them down as adults. To what purpose, we never know, but it's really not critical. What IS important, however, is the implanted thing -- sort of like a weird bone fragment embedded under the skin. Billy's theory (and Julia's belief) states that this implant is how They track their previously marked children in adulthood. However, actions of certain characters during the story give no indication that this is the case. If it doesn't matter, why clutter the script with a red herring that's so obviously a useless bit of information?

The writers had a good thing here to begin with. Scary things under the bed or hiding in your closet are a sure-fire winner for a popcorn horror flick. No elaborate abduction conspiracy necessary, no implanted bone chips, no additional complications required. But, as is often the case, the filmmakers didn't trust the audience to follow a VERY straightforward plot, and proceeded to attempt to explain things...badly. Nowhere is this more clear than in the alternate ending, which would have made for a brilliant close to the picture in many ways, but it suffers from "wrap-up" text on-screen that basically insists that the viewer is too stupid to figure out what's being implied by the very clear visuals in front of them. C'mon guys. You're not that clever...we can keep up. Promise.

The DVD sports nothing but the additional ending, which is kind of a shame, as i'd like to hear Wes Craven's thoughts on the picture that so boldly bears his name. I'd also like to hear from the actors, who were placed in a position of having very high emotional demands made of their characters for almost the entire film, running the gamut from depression to frantic terror. Oh well. The pic still makes a solid rental for those that enjoy the occasional scary flick, particularly if you prefer your scares without gallons of stage blood.