HIM
Short description
Cameron Cade is a promising football quarterback whose professional aspirations are threatened by a severe brain injury. He finds a new opportunity when his idol, a championship-winning athlete named Isaiah White, invites him to an isolated training facility shared with Isaiah's influencer wife. While the intensive program initially offers hope for recovery, the mentor's behavior becomes increasingly disturbing, turning a professional lifeline into a dangerous and manipulative situation.
This horror mystery thriller was directed by Justin Tipping, marking his second feature film following Kicks (2016). The movie was produced by Jordan Peele, Jamal Watson, and Win Rosenfeld, with a screenplay written by Skip Bronkie, Zack Akers, and Justin Tipping. The cast features Tyriq Withers as Cam, Marlon Wayans as Isaiah, and Julia Fox as Elsie, supported by Tim Heidecker, Jim Jefferies, and Maurice Greene.
Produced by Universal Pictures, dentsu, and Monkeypaw Productions, the film had a budget of 27 million USD and earned 28 million USD at the worldwide box office. Audience reception is mixed, with a 5/10 rating on IMDb from 22,000 votes and a 5.6/10 rating on TMDB from 458 votes. These scores are slightly higher than the rating from film critics, which stands at 4.6/10 based on 229 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- Preparing for filming, Tyrik Wither watched films on similar themes – "Black Swan" and "Whiplash." For two months, Wither trained with a coach who had worked with some stars of the National Football League (he even befriended one of them).
- To prepare for the role of Isaiah White, Marlon Wayans watched mixed martial arts competitions and read a book by Michael Jordan's former coach. He felt a genuine competitive spirit towards Wither, who was already in excellent shape at the beginning of preparations for the role. Wayans admitted that he literally envied Wither's physical form.
- The filmmakers studied some of the exercises that American football players do in training, and in particular, learned about a device that shoots balls at athletes. Win Rosenfeld, president of Monkeypaw Productions, said that the machine resembled a medieval torture device.
- Throughout the film, Marlon Wayans' character says he's busy because he needs to "check some tapes." This is a reference to the thriller "American Psycho" (2000), in which Christian Bale's character constantly insists he needs to "return some tapes" to get people off his back and allow himself to indulge his homicidal urges.
- Members of the upper class wear pig masks during the final ritual because American footballs are called pigskin.
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