Ils - Them - review

Ils - Them (15)
Dir. David Moreau & Xavier Palud

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Repeat after me:

“Ces événements sont basés sur une histoire vraie”
These events are based on a true story…

“Ils désirer jouer avec votre tête”
They want to play with your head…

“Ils désobéissance à une règle”
They don’t obey the rules…

“D'ici là horreur, c'est enfantin”
From here on, the horror is child’s play…

There you go – a free (very dodgy) French lesson thrown in for good measure. What we have here is a tasty French horror film that will grip you from the start, smash your head into the reality of what is happening on screen for almost 80 minutes, then wander off whistling nonchalantly whilst the end credits rub in the grimness of what just happened...
If that sounds like a good night out for you – then you should either consider seeking help or you might want to slap Switchblade Romance into your DVD and carry on the quality French horror vibe…
Nice things in Ils include a superb “don’t look through the peep-hole” moment, an amazingly tense loft scene with best ever use of plastic sheeting to menacing effect and a decently restrained ‘reveal’ of the monsters at work – kept only till the end when it actually makes you reassess what you’ve just seen.
The only thing I didn’t like about Ils was the subtitles – man – whoever did them deserves to be taken to grimy disused tunnel network and beaten with a fire poker whilst being shouted at that ‘the audience doesn’t need to know the on screen sound effects you dickhead – just the dialogue!!”

(the tapping of Matt’s foot is a steady ‘thump thump thump’ under the desk),

and while I’m on the subject

(the clicking of the Matt’s keyboard keys is rat-a-tatting a fast staccato)

it really hurts the tension

(Matt is about to make a sarcastic comment but you don’t need to read it now because this stupid subtitle has flashed up and you couldn’t help reading it!?)… See what I mean?

But don’t let that put you off, Ils is pretty much a ‘must see’ for horror fans. It’s stylish and even though it sticks mostly to the cliché book – it does it well.

Darkmatters rating system (out of 5):

Action ööö – hide and seek with deadly stakes
Laughs ö – laughter in the dark?
Horror öööö – more psychological than gore but that’s cool
Babes ööö – Olivia Bonamy wears a mean pair of knickers

Overall ööö1/2 (le trick or treat!?)

Darkmatters: H O M E