---
title: "HIM"
year: 2025
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/him"
fi1m_id: "him"
imdb_id: "tt20990442"
tmdb_id: 986097
wikidata_id: "Q130410549"
fi1m_score: 48
critics_score: 46
critics_reviews: 18
published: "2026-09-24T10:24:58.478511+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-24T10:24:59.056466+00:00"
region: "EC"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# HIM (2025)

Directed by Justin Tipping · 1h 36m · Horror, Mystery, Thriller

## Identity

HIM

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/him
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** him
- **IMDb ID:** tt20990442
- **TMDB ID:** 986097
- **Wikidata ID:** Q130410549
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20990442/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/986097, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q130410549

**Fi1m score: 48** · Critics 46 from 18 reviews

*In a sentence:* Marlon Wayans looks dangerous enough without quite so much assistance from the lighting

> Marlon Wayans supplies menace, and the football violence has an unpleasant force. But *HIM* smothers its promising subject in blunt symbolism and confused plotting, leaving too few scares to reward the effort.

## Synopsis

American football provides the setting for Cam (Tyriq Withers), Isaiah (Marlon Wayans) and Elsie (Julia Fox), with ambition and physical punishment bound up in the pursuit of greatness. Isaiah is a quarterback in a sport whose demands on the body become the basis for supernatural horror. Football violence, graphic injuries and religious imagery bring the prospect of sacrifice into the pursuit of sporting success. Cam and Isaiah stand at the centre of a story concerned with what that success requires and the damage done to those involved.

## Review

*HIM* has a promising subject for a horror film: American football, with its appetite for bodily punishment and its promises of greatness. Justin Tipping gets some nasty images out of that subject, and Marlon Wayans gives it a threatening human presence. There is too little suspense or thought in the script for us to recommend it. At 96 minutes, it should have room to develop its ideas about what sporting ambition costs; instead, it spends too much time restating them.

As Isaiah, Marlon Wayans makes the quarterback threatening even when his motives are difficult to read. There is enough force in the performance to keep us watching through stretches where the story has little else to offer. Tyriq Withers, playing Cam, has enough charm to make us wish the writing gave him more to work with. With so little help from the story, the actors’ commitment has to account for much of our interest.

Kira Kelly’s dark cinematography suits a film that wants sporting ambition to feel unsafe. We winced at the X-ray-style violence, which makes bodily injury difficult to ignore. Those images give the criticism of football something specific to work with: the spectacle involves damage to a human body. Justin Tipping is less persuasive when the imagery becomes religious, because the broad suggestion that football has become a faith does little to clarify what the film thinks about its demands.

Jordan Ferrer’s production design helps make that religious imagery imposing, although its prominence also exposes how little the script does with it. There is care in the way the film looks, even when the symbolism is blunt. The Haxan Cloak’s unsettling score gives the images an unease they need, and it works without requiring the story to explain itself. The trouble is that ominous music can sustain discomfort for only so long when the action gives us so little to anticipate.

The screenplay by Justin Tipping, Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie keeps returning to brutality and sacrifice without making either more interesting. Its supernatural plotting is vague enough to weaken our sense of what is at stake, while its broader direction is disappointingly easy to predict. Taylor Joy Mason’s editing cannot bring much order to the competing emphases on football, horror and commentary. The film keeps changing how it presents its subject without finding much more to say about it.

As a sports horror film, it has a straightforward advantage: the physical punishment is already disturbing before anything supernatural is added. The opening suggests that familiar sporting demands might become frightening when we look at them closely. Instead, the increasingly excessive second half makes the football feel less important, and the scares rarely justify that move. We need some sense of how danger operates if we are going to worry about it, and the film leaves too much of that unclear.

No knowledge of football is needed to follow the complaint that success can demand too much of a person. What is missing is a more searching account of who accepts those demands and why. Marlon Wayans can hold our attention, but his performance cannot settle those questions for the writers. Anyone drawn by his name should be prepared for long stretches in which his presence is the only source of tension.

*Fi1m score 48, published 24 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics find HIM disappointing or uneven, though praise consistently gathers around Marlon Wayans’s committed, unsettling performance. Even several negative reviews credit him with holding attention when the story falters. The film’s imagery also earns broad approval, particularly its graphic treatment of bodily damage and its dark cinematography. Production design and the score receive some praise, with critics often finding more to admire in the craft than in the storytelling.

Reservations centre on muddled plotting, weak scares and underdeveloped ideas about American football’s physical costs and masculine ideals. The spread is wide: Variety finds the body horror effective as a critique of the sport’s brutality, while Empire responds to the ambition and direction despite storytelling problems. Less persuaded critics see the style overwhelming ideas that never develop. Wayans is the closest thing to a point of agreement, though The Guardian dissents, finding his performance overplayed.

## Straight answers

**Is HIM worth watching?**

*HIM* has too little suspense to earn our recommendation at 48/100, though Marlon Wayans gives sports-horror enthusiasts a reason to consider it. We find his threatening presence and the painful football violence more effective than the blunt religious symbolism and confused supernatural plotting, which leave too few scares to reward the effort.

**How long is HIM, and what is it rated?**

*HIM* runs 1h 36m. It is a horror and mystery film.

**Where can I watch HIM in Ecuador?**

*HIM* is streaming on HBO Max in Ecuador. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is HIM, and is it suitable for children?**

*HIM* carries a UK 18 certificate and is unsuitable for children, with graphic injuries and forceful football violence making it a poor choice for the squeamish. We wince at the X-ray-style depictions of bodily damage; the supernatural horror supplies fewer effective scares, but that does not make the physical punishment any easier to watch.

**How does HIM compare to The Wrestler?**

*HIM* is the weaker choice beside [*The Wrestler*](https://film.one/film/the-wrestler), which we recommend for its clearer, more affecting treatment of physical damage and professional pride. *HIM* turns sporting punishment into supernatural horror, with muddled results, while Mickey Rourke gives *The Wrestler* tenderness and humour, even when its familiar second-chance story presses too hard.

**What should I watch after HIM?**

After *HIM*, try [*The Wrestler*](https://film.one/film/the-wrestler) (2008, Fi1m 85): Physical damage and professional pride, with the human cost kept painfully clear. Then [*Perfect Blue*](https://film.one/film/perfect-blue) (1997, Fi1m 82): Celebrity pressure becomes psychological horror, with far tighter control of its uncertainties; and [*The Red Shoes*](https://film.one/film/the-red-shoes) (1948, Fi1m 92): Artistic ambition demands sacrifice in a film that makes the bargain hurt.

### Reviews we read (18)

- **Empire**, Olly Richards (75/100, inferred): Richards finds the film a riveting, ambitious ride, though its style sometimes overwhelms its storytelling. He especially praises Marlon Wayans’s committed performance and the film’s visually striking direction. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/him/)
- **Variety**, Peter Debruge (75/100, inferred): Debruge finds the film a tense, surreal critique of football’s brutal demands, though its style can feel self-indulgent. He praises its unsettling body-horror imagery for making the sport’s physical costs impossible to ignore. [Read](https://variety.com/2025/film/reviews/him-review-1236521171/)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page content is inaccessible, so the critic’s verdict cannot be determined. No specific praise or complaint is available in the supplied text. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/movies/him-review.html)
- **Time Out**, Elizabeth Weitzman (3/5): The review gives the film a mixed-positive verdict, describing its blend of gridiron action and gore as spiky. It singles out Marlon Wayans cutting loose as a quarterback. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/him-review-2025)
- **The AV Club**, Natalia Keogan (C): Keogan finds the film an unsuccessful blend of football and horror that fails to deliver meaningful cultural critique. She faults its vague supernatural plot and heavy-handed religious imagery for sidelining football’s real-world harms and draining the horror of scares. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/him-review)
- **IndieWire**, David Ehrlich (C-): Ehrlich pans the film as dull, compromised, and ineffective at critiquing sports culture. He singles out Marlon Wayans’s intense performance as the one element holding it together. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/him-review-football-movie-jordan-peele-1235151943/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Justin Clark (2/4): Clark finds the film’s football-horror premise and aesthetics compelling but says its commentary on the sport’s harms is clumsy and underdeveloped. He singles out Marlon Wayans’s forceful performance for holding the scattershot plotting together. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/him-review-marlon-wayans-tyriq-withers/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Amy Nicholson (30/100, inferred): Nicholson finds the film visually striking but ultimately vacuous, with a plot and ideas that fail to cohere. She praises its striking production design, inventive imagery and score, as well as Marlon Wayans’ energetic performance. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-09-19/him-review-marlon-wayans-tyriq-withers-julia-fox-jordan-peele)
- **The Guardian**, Andrew Lawrence (30/100, inferred): The Guardian finds the film a disappointing, muddled critique of American football, ultimately calling it a fumble. It praises the supporting performances and stylish visual touches, but says the story lacks credibility and Marlon Wayans overplays his role. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/18/him-jordan-peele-film-review)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (30/100, inferred): Ebiri finds the film visually electrifying but ultimately hollow and thematically underdeveloped. He praises Marlon Wayans’s opaque, compelling performance, while criticizing the spectacle for failing to deepen its ideas about masculinity and football. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-him-looks-amazing-but-it-is-empty-inside.html)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Frank Scheck (25/100, inferred): Scheck finds that the film starts promisingly but loses its way in a bizarre, over-the-top second half. He praises the arresting X-ray-style violence, unsettling score, and committed performances, particularly Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/him-review-marlon-wayans-jordan-peele-1236373709/)
- **Film Stories**, Maria Lattila (55/100, inferred): The review finds HIM entertaining but ultimately uneven, with its familiar imagery and predictable direction keeping its parts from adding up. It praises Marlon Wayans’s committed performance and the film’s graphic, effectively used violence. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/him-review-touchdown-or-a-missed-pass/)
- **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (6 out of 10): The review finds the film stylish and strange but ultimately let down by a predictable story and an unsatisfying finale. It singles out Marlon Wayans’s unsettling, energetic performance as the film’s standout. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1971546/him-horror-movie-review/)
- **Paste**, Jarrod Jones (3.2): The review finds the film overblown and incoherent, with style overwhelming its potentially compelling story. It praises Marlon Wayans’s ferocious performance as the film’s standout strength. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/him/him-review-football-horror-marlon-wayans-tyriq-withers-style-over-substance)
- **Collider**, Ross Bonaime (4/10): Bonaime finds that the film squanders its promising ideas and offers little depth. He praises its dark, haunting cinematography and Marlon Wayans’s intimidating performance. [Read](https://collider.com/him-review-marlon-wayans/)
- **The Wrap** (25/100, inferred): The critic finds the film predictable and muddled, despite its promising questions. Marlon Wayans earns praise for his committed performance, while the opaque mythology and weak suspense draw criticism. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/him-review-marlon-wayans/)
- **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (20/100, inferred): Hammond finds the film incoherent and ineffective as both satire and horror. He praises Marlon Wayans’s authoritative, mysterious performance, while faulting the scare tactics for having little impact. [Read](https://deadline.com/2025/09/him-review-jordan-peele-produced-football-horror-movie-1236548375/)
- **HeyUGuys** (15/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a messy, aimless failure that never develops its themes. They praise flashes of charisma from Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans, but fault the script and its empty stylistic flourishes. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/him-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Justin Tipping
- **Director:** Justin Tipping
- **Writer:** Zack Akers, Skip Bronkie, Justin Tipping
- **Cinematography:** Kira Kelly
- **Editor:** Taylor Joy Mason
- **Music:** The Haxan Cloak
- **Production design:** Jordan Ferrer
- **Costume design:** Dominique Dawson
- **Producer:** Win Rosenfeld, Jordan Peele, Ian Cooper
- **Cast:** Tyriq Withers as Cam; Marlon Wayans as Isaiah; Julia Fox as Elsie; Tim Heidecker as Tom; Jim Jefferies as Marco; Maurice Greene as Malek / Horned Fanatic; Indira Gibson Wilson as Yvette; Geron McKinley as Drew
- **Runtime:** 1h 36m
- **First release (the US):** 17 September 2025
- **Genres:** Horror, Mystery, Thriller
- **Budget:** $27 million
- **Box office:** $28 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpEy0iOixb4

## Where to watch in Ecuador

- HBO Max: streaming

*Checked 2026-09-24.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, ES, FI, FR, GB, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IN, IS, IT, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Seconds* (1966): A disturbing look at reinvention, with bodily horror rooted in dissatisfaction.
- *The Wrestler* (2008), Fi1m 85: Physical damage and professional pride, with the human cost kept painfully clear. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-wrestler.md)
- *Perfect Blue* (1997), Fi1m 82: Celebrity pressure becomes psychological horror, with far tighter control of its uncertainties. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/perfect-blue.md)
- *The Red Shoes* (1948), Fi1m 92: Artistic ambition demands sacrifice in a film that makes the bargain hurt. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-red-shoes.md)
- *Foxcatcher* (2014), Fi1m 82: A sporting patron’s need for control makes the training environment steadily more frightening. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/foxcatcher.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/him