One of many issues with Robert Harmon's "They" is that it never stops being creepy - not for more than a second or two, so ultimately that's bound to be wearing. Laura Regan as the star is effortlessly hot, but at some point we probably do switch from thinking passively that that has long been the fate of beauties in horror movies ... and isn't she gorgeous? to feeling some actual something for a character that loses it steadily as the movie progresses. That is an achievement of sorts.
However, since Dagmara Dominczyk who also appears is similarly devastatingly good-looking, we do come close to exploitation here, and all the more so as other (male) characters in the movie mainly prove highly ineffectual (and of course disbelieving) so we don't have much (else) to gain from a lot of what happens on screen for 90 minutes or so. Furthermore, a key feature here is that "there is no escape" - that always has its plus- and minus-points in any movie context. Hints at directed plot, forging of alliances and all that kind of content associated with a film all come to naught in the ascendant chaos.
That said, the fairly atmospheric "They" is a movie that deploys (as usual effectively) that old spooky dodge of "it rains nearly all the time" (seen for excample in "Se7en" (made 7 years before this one) and that denotes a world that is not quite ours. Thus it would be fair to say that what happens on the absolute margins of this tale is actually much more interesting than what unfolds on centre stage. By willing yourself as far as possible, you might just transport for a moment into the dystopia that is this dingy, grey, troubled and clearly semi-moribund alternative world, and there's an appreciative shudder waiting for you if you manage that. Drop the horror tag and watch this as sci fi, and you'll soon cotton on to this being an alien invasion flick, and on that basis it is creepy, and just about convincing enough to hold its own.
So I watched again today after a gap of umpteen years (still stuck in pandemic world) and I don't actually complain too much ... this movie is sufficient as entertainment in an hour and a half of downtime.
However, since Dagmara Dominczyk who also appears is similarly devastatingly good-looking, we do come close to exploitation here, and all the more so as other (male) characters in the movie mainly prove highly ineffectual (and of course disbelieving) so we don't have much (else) to gain from a lot of what happens on screen for 90 minutes or so. Furthermore, a key feature here is that "there is no escape" - that always has its plus- and minus-points in any movie context. Hints at directed plot, forging of alliances and all that kind of content associated with a film all come to naught in the ascendant chaos.
That said, the fairly atmospheric "They" is a movie that deploys (as usual effectively) that old spooky dodge of "it rains nearly all the time" (seen for excample in "Se7en" (made 7 years before this one) and that denotes a world that is not quite ours. Thus it would be fair to say that what happens on the absolute margins of this tale is actually much more interesting than what unfolds on centre stage. By willing yourself as far as possible, you might just transport for a moment into the dystopia that is this dingy, grey, troubled and clearly semi-moribund alternative world, and there's an appreciative shudder waiting for you if you manage that. Drop the horror tag and watch this as sci fi, and you'll soon cotton on to this being an alien invasion flick, and on that basis it is creepy, and just about convincing enough to hold its own.
So I watched again today after a gap of umpteen years (still stuck in pandemic world) and I don't actually complain too much ... this movie is sufficient as entertainment in an hour and a half of downtime.