After the closing night global premiere of Peacock’s horror thriller They/Them, the 40th edition of the Outfest LGBTQ+ film festival in Los Angeles is in the books (pronounced They-Slash-Them).
Kevin Bacon and Carrie Preston play a couple who run a Christian-oriented ‘gay conversion treatment’ camp in the woods, espousing a conflicting ideology of self-acceptance and self-denial. A new busload of LGBT and non-binary youngsters arrive for ‘therapy,’ the majority of whom have been sent by their families in the hope that they would learn to adhere to conventional standards.
They/Them is produced by Blumhouse Productions, the studio responsible for Paranormal Activity, Get Out, The Purge, Insidious, and a slew of other prominent horror films. Blumhouse produced You Should Have Left, a psychological horror thriller starring Kevin Bacon, in 2020.
“I have a history with Blumhouse. We’ve done a lot of things together. “They understand scared,” Bacon stated. “Plus… when I found out John Logan was not only writing but also directing this film, I was like, ‘Okay, sure, this is good.'”
He encapsulates They/Them in a few sentences.
“I’d say it’s terrifying, but also empowering,” Bacon noted. “It’s also poignant for a horror film.”
