October is quickly approaching, which means we can expect plenty of spooky offerings to hit the 2025 movie calendar. We’ve already feasted this year on films like Sinners, The Monkey and Weapons, and next on the list of upcoming horror movies is HIM. Coming from Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, this falls into the too-rare-for-my-liking subgenre of sports horror, and the critics are here to share their thoughts ahead of its release.
The story is centered around up-and-coming football player Cam Cade (Tyriq Withers, who also starred in this year’s I Know What You Did Last Summer), who goes to train at the isolated compound of football legend Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans). In CinemaBlend’s review of HIM, Eric Eisenberg says there are a lot of great ideas, and the style is fascinating, but it lacks substance overall. He rates it 2.5 out of 5 stars, writing:
It’s a classic case of a collection of dazzling ingredients not quite amounting to a satisfying whole. In addition to the bold nightmare aesthetics, the movie gets the most out of stars Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans, and it has a lot to say about modern professional athletics. But the blend of the 'What’s actually real?' vibe and a plot that has trouble escalating means that it fails to substantially build and doesn’t properly earn its legitimately bonkers finale.
David Ehrlich of IndieWire gives it a C-, calling HIM one fumble after another. The critic says writer/director Justin Tipping wants “all of the glory of a championship season without so much as breaking a sweat.” Ehrlich continues:
Its characters are constantly nattering on about the price of greatness, but the self-satisfied movie around them seems content with mediocrity from the moment it starts — every setpiece a punt that Tipping, Zack Akers, and Skip Bronkie’s see-through script celebrates like a touchdown. By the time Him finally lets loose during a final sequence that’s staged like a Super Bowl halftime show …, I struggled to remember what it was supposedly playing for in the first place.
William Bibbiani of The Wrap agrees, saying that Marlon Wayans’ performance could have saved this movie if the screenplay were half as clever as it thinks it is. Instead, what we get is boring and predictable, the critic says, writing:
Him lacks the fascinating characters, the misdirection, the carefully stretched out suspense, and the thoughtfulness that makes a spider web movie work. You learn about as much from the movie as you do from the trailer, and the trailer is free to watch and saves you a lot of time. Kudos to Marlon Wayans for bringing his A-game, but almost everybody else gives this game away.
Siddhant Adlakha of IGN also praises Marlon Wayans but writes that ultimately, HIM is a “disappointingly scattered attempt at social horror.” Adlahka rates this one a “Bad” 4 out of 10 and says:
Justin Tipping’s flimsy football horror movie Him is papered over with colorful lighting but underscored by bland ideas. Despite Marlon Wayans’ bravura performance, it makes very little visceral impact while en route to one of the most confounding third acts of any horror movie this year.
Kristy Puchko of Mashable says HIM is a mixed bag that fumbles its finish with an “infuriatingly anti-climactic” final showdown. However, it does offer rich performances, unnerving scares and some food for thought in terms of sports, race, religion, and masculinity. Also, Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers are a “sensational team,” Puchko says. In her words:
Tipping is at his best when using smothering swaths of blood red light, flashing effects, and X-ray filters to disorient the standard vision of football, its play, training, and medicines. While Wayans bellows in mercurial moments, Withers is the audience conduit, alternately charmed and alarmed by this icon. Their chemistry, a dizzying mix of mutual admiration and toxic jealousy, makes Him steadily compelling as it tackles sequences of psychological horror and violence.
While HIM leaves many critics wanting, the fault seems to lie with the script, rather than the performances. The Jordan Peele-produced flick may have garnered lower scores — 32% so far from 34 critics on Rotten Tomatoes — but it sounds like there’s still plenty to like, if more sports horror is what the team doctor ordered.
If you want to check this one out, HIM hits theaters on Friday, September 19.