Plot: What’s it about?
As a child, Billy experienced some horrific nightmares, if you can call his traumatic encounters that. He was scared to death about creatures from the shadows, ones that wanted to tear him apart and leave nothing behind. His mother tried to calm him down and convince him the monsters weren’t real, but the fear still remained. And when she left him alone one night, the darkness brought some eerie noises, horrible visions, and an experience that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Nineteen years after that night, he still keeps batteries on hand at all times, just in case the darkness brings more terror to his life. His childhood friends also had these night terrors, but Billy thinks there was more to the nightmares than meets the eye. He warns his old friend Julie (Laura Regan) that the terrors were more than simple bad dreams and after he does so, he takes his own life in order to escape from the darkness once and for all. Now Julie and two other friends from her childhood have been getting returned night terrors, but these experiences are worse than before, more intense and more horrific. She is determined to uncover the truth about these visions, but can she do so before the darkness overtakes her?
If you want low budget, direct to video horror, then look into Dimension’s releases, unless you want good movies, of course. While some movies on their label are decent, most are horrible sequels or low rent nonsense. And I happen to love bad movies, so when I say the flicks are bad, I mean they’re just plain bad. The trend continues with They, which even ran a brief run in theaters, thanks no doubt to Wes Craven’s name over the title. Which is strange, since its obvious Craven did nothing here outside of lending his name. They seems to be quite like Darkness Falls, in terms of premise and even execution at times, but They never manages to be as fun as Darkness Falls, which was only a passable horror picture itself. I do like how the filmmakers opted for atmosphere and tension over cheap scares, but I guess that sort of backfires, as the director (who also helmed The Hitcher) fails to pounce on the audience when he needs to. In other words, the suspense is good here, but it never pays off in terms of effective scares. A few nice scenes can be found here, but this movie needed someone who could snap the trigger on the scares at times. So what might have been a solid little horror movies ends up as mediocre fodder. But if you’re hard pressed for horror movies, you might want to give They a rental.
The cast in this movie is a group of lesser known and unknown workers, which means there was room for a breakout performance. Hell, in this movie a great effort could have made a lot of difference, but in the end, everyone seems to be sleepwalking or just plain bad. Perhaps the best known member of this case is Ethan Embry, who has been in numerous movies over the years, but never found a role that stuck. He has turned in some enjoyable performances, but mostly in lame comedies or other forgettable projects. Embry has had many chances to shine, but he never seems to be able to give that blockbuster effort to put himself over the top. He is decent in most roles, even good in some comedies, but how would he handle horror? His work here is passable, but it is obvious this genre is not his kind of material. I’d recommend for Embry to stick with sugary comedies, as he stumbles whenever serious content is involved. And here, when he needs to convey fear and terror, he drops the ball time and again. Other films with Embry include Can’t Hardly Wait, Vegas Vacation, Empire Records, Sweet Home Alabama, Dutch, and White Squall. The cast also includes Laura Regan (Someone Like You, Unbreakable), Marc Blucas (Sunshine State, Summer Catch), and Jon Abrahams (Boiler Room, Texas Rangers).
Video: How does it look?
They is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. As this is a very dark movie, it needed an excellent visual effort, but Dimension has supplied an unremarkable transfer here. The image is by no means awful, but given the importance of the visuals in this movie, I think more time should have been taken to make refinements. The visuals come off as soft and even hazy at times, which could be part of the scheme, but I doubt it. A few scenes do look sharp and well refined, but most show a lower level of visible details. The colors are held back, as per the visual needs and contrast is solid, but on the soft side at times. The presentation isn’t a total loss, but it should have been better and even fans will be let down here.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio offers a better experience, as the surrounds come to life to enhance the film’s tense, eerie atmosphere. I wouldn’t rank this track up there with the best ones, but all in all, it is a great soundtrack and better than expected. The sound design on this movie is quite good, but is lacking in some scenes, so if more time were spent enhancing the sound design itself, then this track could have been excellent. Even so, the surrounds bring a lot to the table here and provide an active, sometimes immersive experience. The music is solid and dialogue is clean & smooth, so no real problems emerge in this soundtrack. This disc also includes English subtitles, just in case you might need those.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes an alternate end sequence.
