It’s over 40 years since Kevin Bacon starred in Friday the 13th, but he has now returned in part slasher/part mystery They/Them.
While its story of a killer at a gay conversion camp may feel ripe, given the volatile political climate, especially around trans people, They/Them is very much a mixed message exercise.
On one hand it empowers its LGBT cast of characters as things inevitably turn deadly at the camp, it doesn’t really make full use of the isolated location plus its overarching story.
At times it feels quite potent and hard-hitting, whereas others it turns into an episode of Glee.
Bacon is fairly dependable as the owner of the conversion camp, going from overbearingly nice to sinister as the full plot unravels, but he can only do so much.
The killer of the film feels undercooked and when the reveal does take place, they literally have to explain their motive in detail to attempt for you to care. Instead of killing off the kids the killer instead targets the staff which points the finger at one of the kids.
They/Them just doesn’t know what kind of film it wants to be.
While it certainly offers something interesting characters and ideas, it just feels a little bit too disjointed to fully convince.
They/Them is now streaming on Peacock.
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