They/Them, an upcoming horror film starring Kevin Bacon and set within a “gay conversion camp”, has officially received a date for its release to NBC’s Peacock streaming platform.
Bacon has done his lion’s share of interestingly offbeat horror films in his illustrious career, starting all the way back in 1980 with Friday the 13th.
Some were hits, some were misses, and some sadly did not get the attention they deserve. Stir of Echoes, for instance, is still a spooky-good forgotten gem.
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The same can be said of the heir to the genre’s ghostly and bloody throne, Blumhouse.
Popularizing niche franchises like The Purge and Paranormal Activity, Jason Blum and his production company show no sign of tiring when it comes to experimenting with strange concepts of all kinds – that bewildering Jem and the Holograms adaptation included.
This summer, the two horror icons will be teaming up with screenwriter John Logan and dragging NBC’s Peacock into the mix to bring the Skyfall writer’s directorial debut, They/Them (pronounced They ‘slash’ Them), to home audiences.
Telling a “queer empowerment story set at a gay conversion camp”, Deadline reports that the film will revolve around “camp director Owen Whistler (Bacon)” and a group of “queer and trans campers” participating in “a week of programming intended to ‘help them find a new sense of freedom.’”
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But, in the shocking twist that you definitely already saw coming, “the camp’s methods become increasingly more psychologically unsettling.”
To make matters worse, a killer is on the loose, taking out the campers like Jason and forcing them to band together for their survival.
Logan, a fan of slasher films, told Deadline that he has had this idea in his head for a long time.
“THEY/THEM has been germinating within me my whole life,” he said. “I’ve loved horror movies as long as I can remember, I think because monsters represent ‘the other’ and as a gay kid, I felt a powerful sense of kinship with those characters who were different, outlawed, or forbidden.”
He elaborated, “I wanted to make a movie that celebrates queerness, with characters that I never saw when I was growing up.”
“When people walk away from the movie, I hope they’re going to remember the incredible love that these kids have for each other and how that love needs to be protected and celebrated,” the director added.
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They/Them debuts on August 5th on Peacock as a streaming exclusive and as per the company’s Executive Vice President of Content Acquisition, NBCUniversal is very excited to make the movie something of a tentpole.
“Original films will be an integral component of Peacock’s content offering, and we are thrilled to partner with Blumhouse on THEY/THEM streaming exclusively this summer,” professed Boreland.
Adding that the picture has an empowering “message of acceptance,” Boreland asserted, “The film is not only entertaining and thrilling, but also empowers its audience with its message of acceptance in a way that only a creator like John Logan could imagine and then bring to life”.
At the moment, Peacock is not quite the premiere destination for original content at the moment, at least not in the way Netflix or HBO Max is.
However, there’s always a demand for horror films, so we’ll see how They/Them changes the service’s fortunes.
Are you interested in seeing They/Them? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!
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