Them

A low-budget home invasion horror movie which, like the besieged couple’s unwanted house guests, soon wears out its welcome. Isolating French schoolteacher Clementine (Olivia Bonamy) and her novelist husband Lucas (Michael Cohen) in a Romanian country house, writer-directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud subject the pair to a seemingly endless night of eerie sounds, slamming doors and shadowy skitterings. Their scampering assailants remain elusive throughout, but the odd glimpse suggests they might be feral creatures, malevolent pranksters or just robbers with a sick sense of humour. A 20-minute ‘calling card’ short extended to a tolerance-stretching 74 minutes, this is an effectively directed but ultimately pointless wind-up exercise: the final revelation is such a feeble let-down that it deflates the skilfully built-up tension like a burst balloon. It also echoes ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and its imitators by playing the now hackneyed and laughable ‘based on actual events’ card, allegedly drawing on the experiences of an Austrian couple in the Czech Republic. The same team’s forthcoming remake of ‘The Eye’ might realise the potential shown here.