Film

Them

Name: Them
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Released: 2006
Cast: Olivia Bonamy, Michaël Cohen, Adriana Mocca, Maria Roman, Camelia Maxim

Other titles called Them: the 1954 film, the 2021 series (Prime Video).

A French home-invasion thriller that traps a couple in their isolated house with masked intruders who methodically hunt them through the night. Relentlessly tense and deliberately obscure about its attackers' motives, it's pure dread without flourish—style stripped down to raw survival. For viewers who want horror that doesn't explain itself.

TMDb rating

3.1

If you liked this

Martyrs2008

Another French extreme horror that pushes into philosophical territory. Visually stunning, thematically haunting, and willing to follow its premise to genuinely unexpected places. A masterpiece of discomfort.

But Graphic violence and torture aren't incidental—they're the point. Some viewers find the suffering harder to watch than scares, and the ending divides people sharply.

High Tension2003

Pascal Laugier's debut is a relentless home-invasion nightmare with one of horror's most audacious twist endings. Technically brilliant, morally murky, and it sticks with you in ways that feel almost unfair.

But The violence is graphic and sexualized in ways designed to unsettle. If you watch it twice, some early scenes play differently—intentionally or not, it can feel manipulative.

Inside2007

Béatrice Dalle versus a pregnant woman alone in her apartment. French extremism at its most concentrated—78 minutes of escalating dread that never cuts away. Formally brilliant and genuinely transgressive.

But This is trauma as cinema. Graphic childbirth horror and relentless violence in close quarters. It's effective precisely because it refuses to let you look away or feel safe.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Them

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Wailing2016

Both withhold explanation entirely. The horror comes from uncertainty, not jump-scares or reveals. You leave both films knowing less than when you entered, and that's the point.

A Korean village plagued by murders spirals into paranoia about a stranger's involvement. Like Them, it withholds answers and meaning, but it's an epic mystery rather than a siege—scope and ambition on a completely different scale. Visually staggering.

But Two hours 36 minutes, deliberately cryptic, structured like a puzzle that doesn't have one solution. If you want answers, this will frustrate. Also requires attentiveness; it rewards viewers who stay engaged.

Eden Lake2008

A couple's lakeside holiday ambushed by local youths. The panic feels authentic because it builds from social awkwardness into violence—no masks, just escalation. Genuinely unsettling class-war subtext.

But South African setting and accents aside, this plays as white-couple-in-danger, which some find tiring. Also uneven: brilliantly tense in parts, occasionally overwrought elsewhere.

Frontier(s)2007

Bank robbers fleeing Paris end up at a remote inn run by neo-Nazi cannibals. French extreme horror meets exploitation, and it swings wildly between political teeth and sick-joke dark comedy. Never boring.

But Tonally chaotic and sometimes tries too hard to provoke. The Nazi cannibals are such a high concept that they undercut their own horror. Also longer and more baroque than it needs to be.

The Strangers2008

American home invasion that copies Them's template: masked attackers, no motivation, just dread. Cleaner filmmaking, more theatrical scares, genuinely frightening in a conventional way.

But Less ambitious than its influences. The 'why' gets answered in ways that feel designed to satisfy rather than unsettle. Also lean on plot details that don't quite track.

Terror Studios2016

The 2007 film remade by the original director for French television. More narrative, different texture, still carries the core idea of women under siege. Interesting to compare—a director reconsidering their own work.

But Remakes split viewers even before watching. This one's TV-scale rather than cinema-scale, which softens both the trauma and the technique. Some prefer the original's radicalism.

You're Next2013

Home invasion with a twist: the woman inside isn't helpless. Adam Wingard makes something clever out of the template, with genuine laughs and inventive kills. Far more fun than it has any right to be.

But The tonal shift into dark comedy doesn't land for everyone. Also the premise's cleverness can feel like it matters more than the characters' actual danger.

When a Stranger Calls1979

Stalking and phone terror in a single night with Carol Kane alone in a house. Proto-slasher that's more about psychological pressure than gore. Tonally restrained and genuinely creepy in an old-fashioned way.

But Paced for 1979 audiences, which means slower than modern thrillers. The killer's motivation and endgame are left sketchy in ways that feel like gaps rather than ambiguity.

Goodnight Mommy2015

Same era, same European indie-horror sensibility. Both present home as the most dangerous place, and both deploy formal beauty against narrative cruelty. Neither explains its antagonists' psychology.

An Austrian film about two boys who become convinced their surgically-bandaged mother is an imposter. Domestic space transforms into nightmare territory. Beautiful cinematography, then deliberately grotesque. A slow burn into genuine wrongness.

But Child characters in extreme peril alienates viewers on principle. Also deliberately slow—the horror doesn't arrive until the final act, and what it is proves divisive and bleak.

The Invisible Guest2017

Both are 77 minutes of escalating trap-logic in confined spaces. Both use anonymity (masked attackers vs. hidden antagonists) to weaponize uncertainty. Both trust atmosphere over explanation.

A Spanish thriller about a man accused of murder who must solve his own case in a single night. Not horror, but structurally identical to Them: confined space, mounting pressure, mystery opponents, time running out. Utterly gripping puzzle-box.

But The twists are the entire point, which means rewatches flatten. Also doesn't pretend to depth—it's pure craft and mechanism, which some find hollow.