‘HIM’ – Review
Horror goes all the way for the touchdown with HIM, and this is one hell of an audible! Filmmaker Justin Tipping, working under the watchful eye of modern horror maestro Jordan Peele, throws the playbook out the window and crafts what can only be described as the world’s first sports-horror experience; and the results are savage, bizarre, and absolutely packed with “what-the-fuck” energy.
Cameron Cade is a rising quarterback who suffers a potentially career-ending injury after being attacked by an unhinged fan. Just when all seems lost, Cam receives a lifeline when his hero, Isaiah White, offers to train him at an isolated compound. However, as the training accelerates, Isaiah’s charisma turns into something darker, sending Cam down a disorienting rabbit hole that may cost him more than he ever bargained for.
From the opening whistle, HIM hits hard. Tipping takes the all-American obsession with football and twists it into a nightmarish fever dream — a hallucinatory, blood-soaked takedown of celebrity worship, toxic masculinity, and the cult of the modern athlete. The film began its life as a standout on the Black List, and you can see why — this is a story that’s equal parts Friday Night Lights, Get Out, and Midsommar, with a wild, deranged energy all its own.
At the heart of the madness is hotshot college quarterback Cameron “Cam” Cade (Tyriq Withers), the golden boy of the gridiron and the projected No.1 draft pick. But when a sinister accident shatters his rise to glory, Cam finds himself lost, broken, and desperate to prove he still belongs on top. His salvation, or damnation, comes in the form of Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), the eight-time World Champion quarterback and self-proclaimed GOAT of the San Antonio Saviors. White offers Cade an exclusive invite to his private desert training facility, promising to turn him into the ultimate athlete. What follows, however, is a descent into madness, mania, and monstrous transformation.
Tipping goes full berserk with HIM. The film plunges deep into the cult-like, near-religious fervor that surrounds sports culture, exploring how obsession with greatness can warp both mind and soul. What begins as a brutal mentorship soon explodes into a grotesque carnival of excess: a freakish display of ego, temptation, and unholy power. Each scene pushes the audience closer to the edge, until you’re no longer sure if you’re watching a sports movie, a satanic ritual, or a psychedelic nightmare.
Tyriq Withers holds his own as Cade, charting the quarterback’s fall from grace with raw vulnerability. But make no mistake — this film belongs to Marlon Wayans. Known primarily for his comedy, Wayans completely shatters expectations here. His Isaiah White is part messiah, part monster; a swaggering, godlike athlete gone completely mad with power. Channeling a Colonel Kurtz by way of the NFL energy, Wayans delivers a performance that’s as magnetic as it is terrifying. His every line drips with arrogance and mania, and you can’t look away.
Backing him up in the chaos is Julia Fox as Elsie, White’s deranged socialite wife: a vampiric, blood-red vision straight out of Real Housewives of the Apocalypse. Fox is both mesmerizing and menacing, an unholy hybrid of Elizabeth Bathory and influencer culture gone feral.
When HIM turns up the horror, it really turns it up. Expect bone-crunching violence, skin-crawling jump scares, and the kind of gore that’ll have audiences screaming and cheering in equal measure. Tipping and Peele pull no punches — this one goes for the jugular.
Big, brash, and completely unhinged, HIM is a horror touchdown: a film that dares to go big or go home, and then burns the stadium down for good measure. For horror fans looking to pump up the volume, HIM is a wild, unstoppable blitz straight into madness.
Image: Universal Pictures
