Critic Reviews

At a lean - and decidedly mean - 77 minutes, the suspense-horror hybrid Them by French writer-directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud is nothing short of revelatory.

Eschewing special effects, Moreau and Palud reinvigorate the classic haunted house premise by paring the plot down to its essentials.

There's no time wasted and no showy effects to detract from the situation -- just sheer tension.

A welcome change from horror movies like "Hostel' and "Saw" and their mind-numbing gore and violence.

If you want an hour or so of terror, put your faith in Them.

One of the most intelligent and unnerving horror films in recent memory.

Romania-set scare-fest deploys the full cinematic vocabulary of creepy sounds and hostile intruders.

The movie is scarier if you know nothing about it going in. It has no larger agenda. It’s not an allegory, a satire or a commentary. It’s just a modestly relentless suspense picture that propels its characters through a series of dreamscapes.

Them is surprisingly tight, efficient and economical, conjuring a super-creepy atmosphere and incredible tension seemingly out of nothing at all.

The characters in Them are paper-thin: They're mere props to be manipulated by co-directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud, who want nothing more than to scare you sh--less in what, with its nonstop chase sequences and booby traps, often comes off as a live-action video game.