Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

One of my all time favorites.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

There must be some fake review trickery at work here because this doesn't come close to deserving the praise it has inexplicably received.A schizophrenic man's fight with his hallucinations takes its toll on his long lost but newly-found buddy and the latter's love interest. So far, so good.However, the actors are bad. One of the actors' diction is mumbled and rushed to the point of incomprehension. There's no suspense and any attempt at creating a feeling of dread or anxiety falls flat. Now, I will explain why that is.The key to this type of film is to maintain the border between reality and hallucination blurred enough for the viewer to be second-guessing what's real the entire time. Why? Because only then do you identify with the character and see the world through their eyes. Only then can you feel their despair for real, as you are emotionally involved with their plight. Don't take my word for it: watch Black Swan, the Babadook, the Tenant, Lost Highway or even the excellent Enemy. They all follow the same recipe: you don't know any better than the characters whether it's in their head or for real.The problem here is that the mental illness is given away early on. If you don't guess it in the beginning, a scene soon after where the main character meets his therapist makes sure you get the point. Consequently, none of the hallucinations have any impact on the audience: you know it's not real. The soundtrack fills with the sound of insects buzzing the moment a hallucination begins, and this becomes a tired signal after the third time.Also, cinematography is junk - they managed to make New York and Brooklyn look boring and dull - that's quite an achievement. The only un-sarcastic achievement I will award is what seems to me to be clinically accurate depictions of schizophrenic hallucinations as described to me by a schizophrenic friend: voices, visual distortions and particularly people's smiles extending unnaturally to their ears.

I was expecting a horror film but instead stumbled upon a nice psychological thriller. Kudos to the filmmakers and the cast. Well done across the board. Very realistic acting, got to care about all the characters. Had me wondering what I would do in all their situations. Mental illness is difficult to deal with, I know. This handled it with empathy. Again, we'll done!

I am very forgiving of bad movies, even if they are far fetched or whatever, they can still manage to be entertaining. But this one was confusing, slow, weird, boring, and disappointing.

Despite being advertised as such They Look Like People is NOT a horror, let's be very clear on that.They look Like People though creepy a couple of times is a psychological thriller and not a very good one at that.It tells the story of two reunited friends, one of whom secretly believes that body snatcher like creatures are taking over the planet and is being consumed by his obsession. He finds himself questioning whether he should try and save his one and only friend or flee.This is yet another mental illness portrait movie, is dark gritty but doesn't represent sufferers particuly well.Though I see what they were going for I believe this is a thorough swing and a miss and probably would have been better served as a horror after all.One for fans of this niche only.The Good: Couple of creepy momentsThe Bad:Rather dullAmbiguousQuestions left unansweredThings I Learnt From This Movie:Demons have a weakness, it's sulfuric acid! Who knew?!