What happens in the dark? Do monsters lurk in our closets and under our beds? Are they coming for us? Some children think so... and they may just be right. A small group of adults begins to be terrorized by "night terrors", a condition that causes them to believe they are being visited by creatures. Are they? This film was very hit and miss with me. While I have to say it wasn't overall one of the better films I've seen, including some questionable acting and just a rough plot... it has a really good basic story beneath it, some interesting scientific backbone, and a nice role for Ethan Embry. I would have enjoyed more Embry and less of the lead actress, who was not someone I was able to sympathize with.

The film was produced by Wes Craven, which is supposed to be a draw, but anyone following the horror scene knows two things: the producer has very little effect on the finished product, and even if he did, Craven's best years are probably behind him. Even with occasional success like "Scream", he will likely never regain his once-cherished mantle. This film doesn't help.

One of many issues with Robert Harmon's "They" is that it never stops being creepy - not for more than a second or two, so ultimately that's bound to be wearing. Laura Regan as the star is effortlessly hot, but at some point we probably do switch from thinking passively that that has long been the fate of beauties in horror movies ... and isn't she gorgeous? to feeling some actual something for a character that loses it steadily as the movie progresses. That is an achievement of sorts.

However, since Dagmara Dominczyk who also appears is similarly devastatingly good-looking, we do come close to exploitation here, and all the more so as other (male) characters in the movie mainly prove highly ineffectual (and of course disbelieving) so we don't have much (else) to gain from a lot of what happens on screen for 90 minutes or so. Furthermore, a key feature here is that "there is no escape" - that always has its plus- and minus-points in any movie context. Hints at directed plot, forging of alliances and all that kind of content associated with a film all come to naught in the ascendant chaos.

That said, the fairly atmospheric "They" is a movie that deploys (as usual effectively) that old spooky dodge of "it rains nearly all the time" (seen for excample in "Se7en" (made 7 years before this one) and that denotes a world that is not quite ours. Thus it would be fair to say that what happens on the absolute margins of this tale is actually much more interesting than what unfolds on centre stage. By willing yourself as far as possible, you might just transport for a moment into the dystopia that is this dingy, grey, troubled and clearly semi-moribund alternative world, and there's an appreciative shudder waiting for you if you manage that. Drop the horror tag and watch this as sci fi, and you'll soon cotton on to this being an alien invasion flick, and on that basis it is creepy, and just about convincing enough to hold its own.

So I watched again today after a gap of umpteen years (still stuck in pandemic world) and I don't actually complain too much ... this movie is sufficient as entertainment in an hour and a half of downtime.

Any filmmaker whom felt they wanted to call their latest project simply "They" would have to know it needed to be good. They is very good. Stunning lead actress reminded me of a vulnerable Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968). The affliction in They is something that would perhaps have influenced the latterly successful Pulse (2006) movie series, and indeed the characters here are similar to the first Pulse. The concept is a little like the Poltergeist (1982) concept. The colour and filming of They is beautifully done, and again it is by following an enigmatic lead that we easily succumb to the thrills and chills. What really impressed me was the special effects. Possibly it was cgi. It was both really well used, a brilliant form of terror, and visually totally authentic. There's another movie called Under The Bed (2012) that may have been re-enforced in its progress by the confidence and bravery displayed in They. By bravery I mean that to describe this movie to others would probably invite eyes skyward. That's just makes it all the way cooler for me.