Ils (Them in English) is a 2006 French horror film set in a remote country setting of Romania.
Clémentine (Olivia Bonamy) is a French teacher who has recently moved to Romania with her partner Lucas (Michael Cohen). One night, they hear strange noises and investigate.
Not to be confused with Them!, a 1950s creature feature, They, a thriller from the early 2000s, or the 2008 horror film The Strangers, which has a similar premise. Also not to be confused with I"s, which is a high school romance (free of any horror).
Warning: Contains unmarked spoilers.
Provides Examples Of:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Justified/Averted/Played Straight, whether they are mere sewers (played straight) storm drains (justified, as they need to be larger to allow greater flow of water) or maintenance tunnels underneath a highway (averted, as they are meant to be accessible to people.)
- Bloodless Carnage: For the film, anyway. Despite being terrifying, the film is almost completely goreless. What is shown is very subtle, and not
Squick-inducing at all. - Children Are Innocent: Averted to hell and back.
- Danger Takes a Backseat: Happens in the prologue.
- Downer Ending: Clémentine and Lucas are both murdered by the children. The only silver lining is that the children were caught and arrested soon after the murders.
- Eye Scream: Subverted. A sharp implement is thrust towards Clémentine's eye, but she quickly jerks away just in time.
- Foreshadowing: Quite a bit, including the shot of Lucas turning off a TV, which has the hallway reflected in the screen, while the program has a child running past the area the reflection covers, subtly tipping off the identities of their assailants.
- From Bad to Worse: If Clémentine thought getting her car stolen was bad...
- Hope Spot: In the form of a light at the end of a grated-shut tunnel.
- Hot Teacher: Clémentine.
- Idiot Ball: Averted. The characters don't seem to even own one. They do all the right things, but their tormenters are just very good at being one-step ahead.
- Karma Houdini: Subverted. The killers aren't shown getting arrested in the film itself, but the text at the end states that they were eventually caught.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The intruder's main method of torment.
- The Reveal: Late in the film, Lucas gets the jump on one of the intruders and discovers him to be a young teenager. In fact, all of the assailants are young children who just want to "play".
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Played straight.
