‘They/Them’ Review: Blumhouse’s Latest Frightfest Shows The Limitations Of The Social Thriller Template

Right around the time that the queer teens at a conversion therapy camp in “They/Them” burst into an impromptu sing-a-long to P!nk’s “F**kin’ Perfect,” the reality of the film sets in. This is a film trapped in the cultural mentality of that empowerment anthem’s release in 2010-2011. The slasher film’s understanding of youth and the LGBTQIA+ community does not seem to have evolved past TV’s “Glee,” save perhaps the inclusion of a non-binary character and not centering the most straight-adjacent characters.

This presents a problem given that “They/Them” follows the beats of what Jordan Peele coined as the “social thriller” – and what Hollywood megaproducer Jason Blum has now turned into a cottage industry for small-budget horror. Using genre to refract cultural anxieties about threats perceived and present can provide a crucial release valve for those fears. But the success of such a film hinges on its ability to speak knowledgeably and authoritatively about social issues. Whatever catharsis writer/director John Logan’s film hopes to achieve rings hollow because it feels disconnected from the evolving landscape of threats for those who challenge heteronormativity.

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This standard-issue teen terror film does, at the very least, understand that the outright intimidation and harassment of queer people have become less common. Arguably the most chilling moment in the film comes right at the beginning when the bus pulls into camp and Kevin Bacon’s folksy, jeans-clad Owen Whistler tells them that he has no problem with gay people. With big trendy youth minister energy, he builds a case that the world cannot change these young people – but perhaps they want to change themselves. It’s not an outlandish train of thought to exploit; arguably America’s highest profile gay politician, Pete Buttigieg, said, “Well into my 20s […] if there was a pill, a pill that I could take and not be gay anymore, then I would’ve jumped on it.”

“They/Them” dwells in this uneasy territory for a while as it explores the sinister sensation that seems to lurk behind the smile. Logan follows the story beats and visual schema of Peele’s game-changing “Get Out” to an uncanny degree. The film’s centerpiece psychological battle between camp staff and the film’s protagonist, trans-non-binary Jordan (Theo Germaine), is a nearly mirror-image of the first tête-à-tête that prompts a visit to the Sunken Place. But where Peele forked off into vivid allegory and trenchant social commentary, Logan just derails into a finale where he flattens the teens into helplessly horny archetypes and the camp staffers into unrepentant aggressors.

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Of course, a horror flick will take the maximalist approach and paint its villains with a broad brush. It’s easier to conceive of evil as something aberrational than banal. And there is some truth to these violent urges simply submerging themselves beneath a pleasant façade of “tolerance.” As Tony Kushner observed through his avatar Louis in “Angels in America,” “Underneath all the tolerance is intense passionate hatred.” But if that’s the extent of Logan’s analysis, his take is boring and obvious.

The outdated outlook of “They/Them” fails to meet the moment where the LGBTQIA+ community is facing attacks on multiple fronts, much of it coming from people with a far more eclectic set of values and beliefs. “Get Out” made sweeping claims about the racism lurking in genteel white America while still capturing shades of nuance. People can want to exterminate Black Americans while also appreciating the extractive value of certain perceived “gifts.”

Good luck finding any such complexity here. Despite having many opportunities to unpack a prevailing mindset among certain evangelical sets – “hate the sin, love the sinner” – there’s hardly any time devoted to unpacking that fallacious viewpoint. Whatever ideas Logan has for this so-called “empowerment tale,” as the film’s marketing claims, get lost as he shoehorns his story into the social thriller template.

“They/Them” lacks an overarching perspective on the very nature of conversion therapy practitioners, perhaps because it is so straight-jacketed by the Blumhouse house style. In search of topicality for its audience, it sacrifices authenticity to itself. Among other films in this setting, it summons neither the campiness of “But I’m a Cheerleader” nor the gravity of “Boy Erased.” This has the overall effect of turning its queer characters into thin sketches and their traumas into an amusement park. [C]

“They/Them” arrives on Peacock on August 5.