They/Them (2022)

Directed by John Logan. Starring Kevin Bacon, Theo Germaine, Monique Kim, Anna Lore, Quei Tann, Anna Chlumsky, Darwin del Fabro, Austin Crute, Cooper Koch, Carrie Preston, Hayley Griffith, Boone Platt, Mark Ashworth. [TV-MA]

It may look like Blumhouse is wading into perilous waters with a slasher movie set at a gay conversion therapy camp, but that would have required risk instead of superficial sincerity; where’s the edge to this blood-streaked blade? As the camp director, Bacon is so suspiciously reasonable at the outset, it’s only a matter of time before his monstrous side emerges, but does that mean he’s responsible for a series of slayings on and near the campgrounds? Casting and the identity of the victims makes it pretty easy to guess who the killer is, but the viewer isn’t likely to bother trying to figure it out since until the last twenty minutes or so, the slasher aspect is downplayed to the point of it being forgotten; there are no scares in sight (unless you count a bone-chillingly bizarre scene where the “forced campers” break out into a singalong of some random pop song they all know the words to for some reason) and no creativity in the slaughter. Instead, the movie is mostly a free-for-all condemnation of forced gender roles and gay conversion tactics—it’ll feel preachy to the intolerant, a bromidic mission statement to everyone else—and while inclusion is most welcome in this young roster, the characters they play aren’t deep or original enough to bother with an investment. Another disappointment: the inevitable reference to Jason Voorhees in this camp setting doesn’t come from original Friday the 13th co-star Bacon. Directorial debut for longtime screenwriter Logan; Bacon executive produced.

40/100