Spooky Season: HIM (2025)

HIM is a “black” horror film. HIM got lost in the shadow of Sinners when it came to 2025 “black” horror movies because HIM didn’t have the shill-bot marketing budget of Sinners. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie get the amount of X glaze Sinners received.

HIM is a film from Monkeypaw Productions, which is Jordan Peele’s company. Its script made the 2022 “Black List.”

“Wow,” you may be thinking. “HIM must be really ‘black’ then! It probably features rap music and uses the word ‘finna’ in its dialogue!”

Except, in this case, we aren’t talking “black” as an ethnicity. We are talking “black” as in “most liked unproduced screenplays.”

(HIM does feature rap music and uses the word finna, though…)

But if you did think that way, that’s fine. I will not label you a racist. What’s the point? In the year 2025 everyone is racist. No one cares anymore, except liberal white women. They mostly only care for Facebook cred, so they can get likes when they update their profile pictures, which conspicuously never feature their hips…

HIM

The plot for HIM is thus:

A black dude dedicates his life to making a fictional professional football league. A black mentor takes said black dude under his wing. Mayhem ensues.

Tyriq Withers (I Know What You Did Last Summer) plays the protégé. You might think Tyriq got the job because of his dope “black” name, but he is dope in the role. We are used to seeing this type of character carry a chip on their shoulder the size of a 52-oz Orange Crush.

Withers portrays the character in a way that is relatable to all viewers. He is motivated by family, plus a desire to be great at his chosen profession. His character never plays the victim. He gets out there and grinds. He is more likeable than any of the characters in Sinners, who are always broadcasting their virtue in the face of systemic challenges.

Marlon Wayans plays the mentor. Wayans takes a break from his usual comedic roles and exercises his menace chops. Low and behold, Wayans is also dope. He is a man who got to the top by climbing over the bodies of his opponents and attachments. Now he has to show his successor the secret to his success. This makes him fluctuate between brutal and insightful. It’s not a huge dynamic, but it’s a dynamic nonetheless and makes his character interesting.

All in all, Wayans surprises. If you put him up against any of the performances in Sinners, he would chew them up and spit them out. Who saw that one coming?

Aside from that, few familiar faces appear in HIM. Tim Heidecker shows up as a douchebag agent. The rest of the cast is made up of mostly unknowns.

HIMSELF

Justin Tipping directed HIM. Tipping has a limited filmography, but he made HIM look pleasing to the eye. Tipping successfully avoids the bland sheen of modern digital images. Nearly every scene is visually appealing. Tipping feels a bit like Nicholas Refn, in that he is not afraid to use vivid colors and make things more hyper-realistic than realistic.

This visual language keep HIM percolating even when the plot does it no favors.

Said plot came from Skip Bronkie, Zack Akers and Tipping. I’m not sure why the HIM screenplay made the 2022 Black List because it has a few problems. I will avoid spoilers, though. Suffice it to say, HIM has a bit of a Stepford plot. That doesn’t really count as a spoiler because one can gather that much from the trailer.

A film like The Stepford Wives works because it has…well, steps.

The couple moves to a new neighborhood. Things seem weird. The wife makes friends. The husband goes off to join the mysterious men’s club. The wife notices her friends oddly change in their behavior. It all comes to a head…

HIM lacks this sort of buildup. Withers shows up at Wayan’s complex. They then engage in conversation and exercises…and that’s about it until the movie ends.

HIM V SINNERS

Despite these shortcomings, I enjoyed HIM more than Sinners when it comes to “black” horror.

Both films have good cinematography. That’s a wash.

Sinners has a better plot, even if it does not leverage it properly either.

Both films are rich in metaphor, but the nod goes to HIM here. Racism is low-hanging fruit, and HIM only spends roughly 30 seconds on it. Otherwise, HIM concentrated on saying something about the price of fame and whether or not it is worth being great if one can simply be good enough and still retain their integrity.

HIM also had the sense to be done in approximately 90 minutes.

Finally, I enjoyed Wayans being coooooold-blooded.

Objectively speaking, Sinners probably scores a smidge higher than HIM overall, but if someone forced me to watch HIM or Sinners a second time, it’s a no-brainer. I’d pick HIM.

But, honestly, Tales From The Hood is still better than them both…

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