HIM: Visually appealing but a writing letdown

MOVIE REVIEW

Contrary to popular belief, Jordan Peele is not to thank for “Him,” a 2025 horror starring Tyriq Withers.  

Directed by Justin Tipping, the film follows Cam, a hungry athlete who gets the chance to be mentored by his idol, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans). As he falls deeper into a week of intense training, increasingly strange and violent things happen, revealing an underground satanic cult behind it all.  

The messages in the movie are great— sure. It’s a classic warning against valuing fame over morality; it’s a commentary on the world’s obsession with danger; and it critiques the undeniable ego that people develop when they reach stardom. However, “Him” flounders through every think-piece it tries to write.  

The concept of a horror movie where a performer does anything to get to the top is not unexplored. In fact, I’d consider it a complete sub-genre of horror. “Black Swan,” “Pearl,” “Whiplash” (yes, “Whiplash” is horror) all show the torture a person will endure or commit to be successful.  

And cults? Cults are not new to film, either. Industry cults are not new to film. Powerful bloodlines? Not. New. I’m not saying that every book, movie, or song needs to tell a completely original story because with so much media now, that’s impossible. However, if you are going to make a movie that has basically been done before, make it better. It’s like if “The Neon Demon” and “Eyes Wide Shut” had a love-childthat grew up with a soccer mom and had a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

The issue isn’t just the unoriginality – it’s the way it over-complicates itself to feign originality. Cam is consistently hallucinating because of a head injury, but is he?  

We are aware that he’s seeing things that aren’t there, but then again, some of it actually is?

Don’t expect to find out what, though. Oh, and the weird mascot that gave him the brain trauma— who is in the costume? Why did they hit him? Why does the mascot keep showing up? Was his injury orchestrated to lead him to the cult?  

We do not learn the answers. He’s injected with drugs throughout by a mysterious doctor who works for White, but we never learn what that drug is or what the side effects are. All the while, Julia Fox is running around with a posse of coked-out women with a hunger for blood, or just hookups with a footballer.  

All of it is messy; all of it leaves you wondering what is real and what isn’t; and the frustrating part is that it was completely intentional. That’s what makes this movie a pretentious mudpie: a good moviedoesn’t need every scene to be rife with symbolism and metaphors and subtext. 

 There’s a term amongst poets called “purple prose.” It’s when a poem is just… too much. Too many metaphors and too much flowery language to the point where it reads phony. Like a caricature of a poem.  

“Him” is a caricature of a horror-cult movie. It feels like Tipping made a list of classic cult stereotypes, drew twenty from a hat, and worked from there. 

It’s disappointing that Peele’s name was plastered all over the promotion. Following “Nope’s” tremendous success, “Him” becomes a stain on Peele’s filmography.  

It’s also disappointing because the performances aren’t bad. They’re not great, but with a better script and a more forgiving plot line, the actors could’ve walked away from this with countless nominations.  

Tipping isn’t a big name for directors (yet), but “Him,” while not being in my top 100 movies of 2025, puts him on the map. The visuals were outstanding, and the whole theater was engaged throughout the viewing.  

Let’s just hope that next time, his script gets read before production starts.