The highly anticipated football horror movie “HIM” is filled with mixed emotions and a controversial ending, making it a very mediocre horror film and leaving football and movie fans disappointed. The entire movie is a symbolic critique of the risks of playing football and displays many issues that Producer Jordan Peele thinks are wrong with the NFL.
The first hour or so is incredible, with the potential of being a top-five movie of the year. It brought pure motivation and sacrifice to another level, which I especially appreciate. Main character Cameron Cade, played by Tryiq Withers, follows after his father, who is his biggest role model throughout the film. The characters both share the same dream of professional football players, and you can feel that connection between them. His father worshiped the made-up team of the San Antonio Saviors and won eight Super Bowls with the quarterback Isaiah White, played by Marlon Wayans. Wayans is easily the MVP of the film, and you could sense the raw emotion and grit he brought to this film. The other main actor, Withers, has just started his acting career and has a very bright future. He is starring in the upcoming horror film, “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” Without Withers and Wayans, I don’t think “HIM” would have had the potential it had at the start of the film.
By an hour into the movie, I was lost. There were too many topics introduced in the story, and none of them correlated with the first half of the film. Right after I got out of the theater, I wrote down, “The directors and writers from the first half left.” The energy and emotion from the actors weren’t there anymore; the horror and thrill wasn’t there. The ending was also a rough watch, with it tying the idea of signing a football contract to selling your soul to Satan. Isaiah White, who sacrificed himself before, puts football above everything, like family, God, and friends. Throughout the entire film, Cade wants to do exactly that, but questions what he is sacrificing. “HIM’s” horror genre felt forced in the second half of the film, feeling very much like a scene out of “Terrifier” and not a football movie. Even though I didn’t like the ending one bit, the final 15 seconds were scenes you would see in a video game, which got me hype after the awful 30 prior minutes.
Many people have speculations that both Cameron Cade and Isaiah White are parallels to real-life NFL players. While the movie doesn’t directly say there are any connections, and doesn’t give any major hints about whether there was meant to be a parallel, there are a few broad life and football experiences that could lead viewers to many different people. After watching, I first believed White represented Tom Brady and Cade was Patrick Mahomes since they both faced each other in the Super Bowl when Mahomes was just coming into the league and Brady was old and about to retire. However, looking back, this theory doesn’t make sense when Cade and White are quarterbacks on the same team. If the NFL correlation theory turned out to be true, I think the characters represented would be Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. Eli came into the league when Peyton was already named one of the best quarterbacks of all time, and Eli had the goal to be better than he was. They also have a unique connection because they were brothers who trained together, just like Cade and White did the entire film.
The soundtrack has its good moments with lots of gym rap music, but overall, it didn’t meet all my expectations. Songs like “Lemonade” by Gucci Mane and many songs by Bobby Krlic, who has done many different soundtracks for a variety of films, including “Blue Beetle” and “Beef,” added well-needed emotion to the movie. The songs allow viewers to feel what the characters feel. Music is one aspect of the film I wish they had leaned into more; the songs built up suspense for some action scenes in the film. Visually, “HIM” is filled with great shots but trippy looks, making the horror in the film mediocre. Production and soundtrack matter in any movie genre, but especially in horror films, and “HIM” missed the mark. While I didn’t think the horror in the film was that great, the football hype and dedication they put into the training part of the movie truly took the sacrifice ideology to another level. Many costumes reflected football culture, from fan apparel to stylized uniforms. Almost every character had a hidden cross that you had to look for, which prompted viewers to be more engaged with the movie. All of the background players had different outfits that you would see on a football field, which brought a certain style that current sports movies lack.
Walking out of the theater with the thought “HIM” is a one-star movie was a shame because I wanted to like this movie. The film is 30 minutes too short because it never shows them playing an actual game of football. It missed out on topics they could have added in the film, revolving around Cade’s life story and high school journey to build up a sturdier setting. I am very picky when it comes to horror movies, as they’re difficult to do well, and there aren’t many good ones. Lots of these films come with horribly cringy ideas, for example, taking a figure like “Santa Claus” or “Winnie the Pooh” and turning it into a scary serial killer. This being said, the longer I critically think about this movie, the less I hate it. While there are many flaws to this film, the highs stand out more than other horror films. I would still recommend everyone to watch this movie, especially if you’re a football fan. No matter how much it ripped on football, it still brought some great ideas that changed the way I look at football forever.
“HIM:” ★★★☆☆
