Truly Dreadful Film

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Crappy film

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

"Presented" by Wes Craven, this so-so 21st century shocker stars Laura Regan as Julia Lund, a graduate student in psychology. She's going for her thesis, and has a hunky boyfriend, Paul (Marc Blucas). Everything in her life goes straight to Hell after she witnesses the death of a childhood friend, Billy (Jon Abrahams). A couple of strange and terrifying experiences later, Julia comes to believe in the insanity that Billy was spouting, that their "night terrors" as children were beacons for mysterious creatures that "marked" them. And now, 19 years later, these creatures are returning to claim their property."They" has solid atmosphere, but as directed by Robert Harmon ("The Hitcher") and written by Brendan Hood, it's pretty drab. The young actors are mostly wasted, although Regan tries hard, and Blucas is rather engaging as the patient boyfriend. Unfortunately, we don't get to know these characters all that well, and it's hard to work up the interest in caring for them very much. Harmon and Hood try to strike some sort of balance throughout, going back and forth between psychological terrors (and being somewhat more successful on this front) and creating a generic monster movie. (Albeit one with pretty ropey CGI effects.) Sometimes the movie is kind of eerie (with a not bad climax set in the subway system), but mostly it's just forgettable. We never do get a good look at any of these beasts (although this aspect may work in the movies' favour for some viewers).Ethan Embry cracks terrible jokes as Sam, while Dagmara Dominczyk delivers a flat performance as Terry. Jay Brazeau is solid as the well-meaning Dr. Booth, while Abrahams manages to leave a decent impression in his brief time on screen.Both the theatrical ending and the alternate ending available on the DVD reek of cliché.Five out of 10.

The tag-line for this film is 'First comes the warning. Then comes the mark. Then comes the terror.' Which I think we can all agree is alluring. The film focuses on a young woman called Julia Lund (Laura Regan) who is a psychology student at university. Julia has a friend in her life named Billy (Jon Abrahams) who was a troubled child due to night terrors which Julia herself was afflicted with also. Billy calls Julia while she is with her boyfriend Paul Loomis (Marc Blacas) to ask if she can meet him immediately, because he is having his night terrors again, and is trying to warn her that they're all in danger. Julia sees a mark on Billy's hand that intrigues her but he refuses to talk about it. She then meets two of Billy's friends Terry (Dagmara Dominczyk) and Sam (Ethan Embry) who also used to suffer from night terrors as children and are now having them again. Sam and Terry also possess the mark seen on Billy. Julia tries to understand what is happening by doing a classic research all-nighter. Upon doing so Julia reads through Billy's old diary entries from when he was a child until present day. She reads an entry showing that Billy thought him and his friends had all been marked by something evil when they were children and it now wants them.I think the film can most certainly call itself a mystery. I don't feel it was a particularly good film or worth the watch but I had to watch it to the end to see what was going on, I was so captivated in the storyline and what was going to happen. I had to know. But I feel I still didn't get the conclusion I was hoping for.I feel that the film could have been so much better if they went into the back story more than focusing on what was happening present day, because as a viewer I needed answers. Perhaps the director just wanted to try and get more jumps from the film and more suspense as opposed to getting a great story across. I would not recommend watching this film, I for one would not watch it again. Of course it is up to you if you feel you'd like to give it a chance, but I think you'd be disappointed.*SonyaSays*

The camera work on this film is gorgeous--you feel almost every moment as if you are immersed in a dream-like/almost waking state along with the main character, never quite knowing what to believe. The problems come with the complete mistrust of everyone around the main character that she has any credibility at all--when she tries to assert the idea that something not-so-normal is happening, NO ONE in her life believes her, not even the man she loves. The woman is one step from her Masters in Psych--you would think she MIGHT know a thing or two about delusions! Now, on to the effective moments...and there are some very effective moments. We feel the dread the characters feel who are suffering from the revisiting "night terrors," and we feel the main characters increasing panic as she realizes what's next for herself. When these people are creeped out, so are you.The "gotcha" moments are worth putting up with the little problems...give it a shot.

This movie was very cool. I think that it is one of Wes Craven's better films. It wasn't cheesy like 'People Under the Stairs'. It was a solid horror picture. It was suspenseful and mysterious and gave me a few scares and thrills. The concept was cool and the scenery and ambiance were eerie and creepy. It was a B movie but the quality of the film and story and acting were that of an A movie. This is a sleeper movie because a lot of people have not heard of it. It has a low rating on this site because there seems to be a lot of sci-fi and horror movie snobs on this site that prefer artsy overly intellectual movies. This is a solid horror film. I liked a lot and I recommend it to you.