Taglines: When darkness falls, you better watch your back!!!
While preparing for the examination of her Master Degree in Psychology, Julia Lund is called by her friend from childhood Billy Parks to meet him in a bar. They both had nightmares when they were children, and Billy is totally disturbed with demons from the dark that would be chasing him and commits suicide in front of Julia.
The traumatic experience, plus the meeting with two friends of Billy, Sam Burnside and his girlfriend Terry Alba, in the funeral make Julia having nightmares again. When Sam tells her that they four have been tagged in their childhood, and demons are coming to get them to the darkness, Julia becomes afraid of the dark and asks for help to her boyfriend Paul Loomis.
They (also known as Wes Craven Presents: They) is a 2002 American supernatural horror film directed by Robert Harmon. The plot centers on a group of four adults named Julia Lund, Sam Burnside, Terry Alba, and Billy Parks and their experience with the phenomenon of night terrors and the impact they had on their lives as children and how they come back to haunt them as adults.
The film was produced by Ted Field, Tom Engleman, and Wes Craven who served as executive producer. The film stars Laura Regan, Marc Blucas, Ethan Embry, Jon Abrahams, Dagmara Dominczyk, Desiree Zurowski, Mark Hildreth, Jonathan Cherry, Jessica Amlee and Jodelle Ferland.
The title is a reference to the fact that the creatures are only referred to as “They” as their origins are ambiguous. In its opening weekend They grossed about $5,144,090. The film grossed $12,840,842 domestically and $3,289,543 overseas making for a total worldwide gross of $16,130,385 therefore being a box office failure.
About the Story
In 1983, a young boy named Billy Parks (Alexander Gould) is frightened and has difficulty falling asleep after waking up from a nightmare. His mother Mary Parks (Desiree Zurowski) comes in to comfort him and assures him the monster he thinks is in the closet is imaginary. As he tries to fall asleep again he sees a dark apparition in his closet staring at him and pulls the covers on top of himself and turns on a flashlight. As he peeks outside the covers he is captured and spirited away by the mysterious apparition.
In present day 2002, the plot focuses on the story of a Psychology grad student named Julia Lund (Laura Regan) and the events that turned her life upside down. As a child she experienced horrifying night terrors that manifested after witnessing her father commit suicide, but has seemingly overcome the problem. She reunites with a childhood friend, a now grown-up Billy (Jon Abrahams). In the diner Billy is constantly startled by the flickering lights as he is now deathly afraid of the dark. He tells her that he believes their night terrors are caused by something otherworldly as he was kidnapped by mysterious creatures as a child and went missing for two days. He warns her to stay out of the dark, before suddenly committing suicide.
Julia stays over at her paramedic boyfriend Paul Loomis’ (Marc Blucas) apartment for comfort and to grieve. As Julia is sleeping she is awakened by the ringing of Paul’s phone and answers, but with no response. Julia then hears the shower running and investigates but finds no one inside. A mysterious black fluid then erupts from the sink drain and frightens Julia who then opens the bathroom mirror shelf to find an alternate dimension inside with mysterious creatures.
Out of curiosity she sticks her hand in only to yank it out coated with the same black matter from the drain which starts to violently break her fingers, she closes the shelf only to encounter a reflection of one of the creatures in the mirror. Paul hears her screams and comes to check on her only for Julia to viciously assault him until she realizes it is him. Puzzled, Paul brings up the possibility that she might have been sleepwalking since she does not appear to remember what happened.
At his funeral, Julia consoles Billy’s parents Mary and David Parks (Peter LaCroix) and meets up with two of Billy’s friends and roommates; Terry Alba (Dagmara Dominczyk), and Sam Burnside (Ethan Embry), who slowly begin to believe his claims as they also experienced night terrors as children and suspect they are returning. Offended by Sam’s careless comment Julia walks away and visits Billy’s childhood room and discovers his drawer filled with Energizer and Duracell batteries. Terry then shows up and apologizes for Sam’s insensitivity and informs her that Billy used to talk a lot about Julia to her and Sam, about his experiences with the return of his night terrors, and why he was obsessed with staying out of the dark – hence the drawer filled with batteries.
As Julia is driving in the middle of nowhere her radio starts to malfunction and an unknown creature sprints across the windshield as the car mysteriously stops. As she is attempting to fix the problem she notices a mysterious creature in the nearby lake. Nervous, she manages to fix the car issue and as she is attempting to start the car she is startled by a vision of Billy and stumbles onto the road only to nearly get hit by an oncoming truck. Julia visits Paul’s apartment for comfort only to discover him drunk with his friends Troy (Mark Hildreth) and Darren (Jonathan Cherry). Disgusted, Julia leaves instantly.
At Terry and Sam’s apartment the remaining trio study Billy’s diary to learn of his experiences. Terry and Sam then ask Julia if she has experienced any return of the night terrors, which Julia denies. Terry then realizes that Julia doesn’t seem to remember the sheer terror she felt as a child and explains the origin of her night terrors which started when she was 5 years old, after witnessing her sister drown in a lake where her family would spend their summers.
In one instance, she woke up screaming and her parents comforted her and put her back to sleep. Her mother checked on her a few hours later and she was gone. After searching throughout the entire house her father found her in the dog house, and as he reached in to grab her she stabbed him in the eye with a kitchen knife as she was convinced he wasn’t her father and that he was some kind of demon.
They (2002)
Directed by: Robert Harmon
Starring: Laura Regan, Marc Blucas, Ethan Embry, Jon Abrahams, Dagmara Dominczyk, Desiree Zurowski, Mark Hildreth, Jonathan Cherry, Jessica Amlee, Jodelle Ferland
Screenplay by: Brendan Hood
Production Design by: Douglas Higgins
Cinematography by: Rene Ohashi
Film Editing by: Chris Peppe
Costume Design by: Karen L. Matthews
Set Decoration by: Lin MacDonald
Art Direction by: Patrick Banister
Music by: Elia Cmiral
Distributed by: Dimension Films, Focus Features
Release Date: November 27, 2002
Visits: 130
