HIM has all the elements of a great folk horror story, both visually and psychologically, as reimagined by director Justin Tipping.
The protagonist, Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers), experiences a traumatic head injury before being invited to a training camp held by the antagonist, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans). He becomes trapped in White’s isolated compound, also known as “Church.”
There are football fanatics who camp out in front of White’s home, giving off crazy cult follower energy, blood rituals disguised as sports medicine, and the creeping dread of “Is this real or am I seeing things?”
The film spans 7 days, with each chapter representing a day. The title of each chapter gives the audience a glimpse of what is to come for Cameron Cade as his idol and Saviors quarterback GOAT, Isaiah White, pushes him closer and closer to the edge.
The Saviors need their GOAT
The film begins with a young Cameron Cade and his family gathered around the TV, watching their favorite football team, the Saviors. Their home is a shrine to the team and their star quarterback, Isaiah White. Cade’s father is intense when it comes to the sport and wants his son to be the next GOAT, encouraging the young boy to pound on his chest and shout, “I’m HIM.”
The eight-time championship winner, Isaiah White, whose contract with the San Antonio Saviors is coming to an end, starts scouting for new blood, and Cade is the top pick for the position. Luckily for White, Cade wants it badly and has been training for it his whole life.
One night while training on his own, Cade takes what could be a career-ending injury to the head, right before his showing at the Combine, an event where scouts get to watch all the up-and-coming players in their element.
Due to his injury, Cade has to sit this one out, and he never gives the press any real information about his injury, which leads to speculation on whether he will be able to play for the Saviors or not.
However, Cade’s talent is undeniable, so he gets the call to meet up with White himself for a week-long training at his home.
“In this game, violence is rewarded. So learn to enjoy it.” — Isaiah White
The director did a great job of portraying the true nature of full-contact sports and the physical toll it takes on the players involved, using well-placed X-ray shots to show the trauma the body endures when engaging in the act of hitting and/or being hit.
Tipping also turns basic training drills into obscene acts of violence to push Cade to deliver and take responsibility for his teammates. After all, he is the star quarterback, so he gets all the glory and all the failure, which are the same.
The visuals in this film are stunning and eerie, as if instead of shedding light on the ugly side of sports, he wants to drape the screen in its true darkness. Making the “light at the end of the tunnel” just that much more dramatic in the film’s climax.
The onscreen chemistry between Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans was fantastic! It truly felt like they were feeding off of each other’s performances. Tyriq Withers gave Cameron Cade a very kind, yet driven and level-headed individual, but with the right amount of push, he could really excel. He felt grounded, and as a viewer, you felt for him; you wanted him to win.
Marlon Wayans came out swinging as Isaiah White, baiting the viewer in with the charismatic mentor who has so much knowledge and love of the sport, and he can’t wait to share it with Cade. As we get deeper into the training, we slowly start to see the cracks, and his true nature erupts in the best way. As dark and sinister as White is, the viewer can see why he was the chosen GOAT in the first place: the drive, the work, the will! Being great is everything, and the actor demonstrated that on screen. It was a very, you love to hate him type of performance.
The cult-like behavior of sports fanatics and the team’s owners
Overall, this was a great movie. Do not go in looking for a Jordan Peele film; this isn’t Get Out (2017), Us (2019), or Nope (2022). I can see why Justin Tipping wanted Monkey Paw’s involvement in the production department; this is up Peele’s alley.
I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Folk Horror and knows what tropes to look for. The symbolism is evident, and the way the director portrays the intense obsession fans have for their teams throughout the film is creepy. Mascots are usually cute and fun, but not in this case.
He also digs into the exploration of the athletes and uses the term “GOAT” in two ways. Greatest Of All Time, which was more geared to the fans, designating that crown to their star quarterbacks. The second meaning is more akin to a sacrificial goat. The most talented players, the ones team owners drain of all their worth, run them until their bodies are of no use, and career-ending injuries are treated as just minor setbacks, and they should push through them. In the end, they are cut and replaced with the next “goat.”
Saviors Mascoat looking on Cade as he struggles to breathe.
Director Justin Tipping trades a rural forest setting for an isolated training compound (Spoilers)
For some horror fans (myself included), the folk horror subgenre can be one of those, “I can’t really explain it, but I know it when I see it.”
When watching HIM, I saw so many things on the screen and in the story that said that’s what this film is, because this specific style of horror movie is a feeling. It’s not like Slasher films or Monster films, where we all know what the exact formula is. Folk Horror is deeper than the surface, and it’s an experience.
With a bit of help from Adam Scovell’s book, Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange, we will utilize his Folk Horror Chain to identify what makes the film HIM a folk horror movie. These are the four identifiers the author used throughout his research on the subgenre to determine whether the films he was studying were actually Folk Horror.
Chain 1: Rural Location
Location is vital to the storytelling in these types of films; the area becomes a character in its own right. It’s the boundary that locks our protagonist in place, much like the Hårga commune from MidSommar or the isolated farmhouse in The Witch.
Justin Tipping uses the training compound for this purpose; it’s a remote desert location, surrounded by miles of nothing, which appears to be a place to build up Cade’s abilities as a quarterback, rather than a place that is chipping away at his mental stability.
Chain 2: Isolated Groups
The saying, “It takes a village,” holds true for this type of horror. After removing the protagonist from their everyday life, they will be surrounded by others who will play roles in breaking down the isolated individual, for example, every person on the island of Summerisle in The Wicker Man. For Cade, it’s the crazed Savoir fanatics outside of the compound who’ve made it clear that they don’t want him or the training camp of fellow players and trainers who do White’s bidding.
Chain 3: Skewed Morals or Beliefs
Being cut off from society, these groups and their leader will have their own belief system that ties them to their cults. It can stem from religious beliefs to insure their place in the after life, ancient rituals used as means to an end for the sake of their communities as in The Devils Bath where they believe drinking the blood of executed prisoners will ward off melancholy and The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) where the villagers think committing heinous rituals and murder will restore their demon Behemoth physical form.
The same goes for the group behind the Saviors team, who use ancient rituals to hand-select their GOAT. All involved believe that this is the only way and has been since the beginning of the sport. Isaiah White is a God in the eyes of all those who surround him; the new GOAT has to be willing to sacrifice everything and anyone.
“Think of it as a gift from the Gods,” White says to Cade, explaining a blood ritual.
Chain 4: Violent and/or Supernatural happenings
The beautiful thing about Folk Horror is that the climax is always so violent! It almost always ends very badly for all involved. The violence is inevitable, and it’s this unbelievable, boiled-over mess of all the previously mentioned chains linking up and creating a fight or flight pressure chamber where most end up dead, or they’ve given in or have lost themselves the cults.
HIM definitely follows this style of climax to a tee — all gas, no brakes, and in the light of day.
HIM Thriller/Horror Directed by Justin Tipping 2025 96 minutes
HIM (2025) - Folk Horror leaves the woods and makes its way to the 50 yard line - Malevolentdark
Director: Justin Tipping
Date Created: 1970-01-01 00:33
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4 Responses
I find this take absolutely fascinating. I watch a TON of folk horror, and I have found it in some strange places for sure, but I never wold have thought that film had anything in common with that sub-genre. This article took me from, “That looks kind of cool” to “I need to go check this out immediately!”. Great review and killer insight!
Thank you for trusting me with it!
Great article! After reading some of the negative reviews, it was refreshing to see someone go with another angle. Well done.
Thank you! I am definitely going to go see it again.