Firestarter’s release this weekend may mark another horror remake for Blumhouse, but please hold for this jump scare: the studio has just announced an original slasher hitting Peacock this summer. The upcoming horror movie is called They/Them and features Kevin Bacon as an LGBTQ+ conversion camp director and a mysterious killer.
John Logan, the Oscar-nominated writer behind hit movies like Skyfall, The Aviator and Gladiator is the filmmaker behind They/Them, with the film serving as his first time directing a movie. In a Peacock press release, Logan introduced the horror film with these words:
They/Them has been germinating within me my whole life. I've loved horror movies as long as I can remember, I think because monsters represent 'the other' and as gay kid I felt a powerful sense of kinship with those characters who were different, outlawed, or forbidden. I wanted to make a movie that celebrates queerness, with characters that I never saw when I was growing up. When people walk away from the movie, I hope they're going to remember the incredible love that these kids have for each other and how that love needs to be protected and celebrated.
The movie was formerly known as “Whistler Camp,” referring to the name of the conversion camp in They/Them. It is being described as a “queer empowerment story” and the horror movie feature a number of LGBTQ+ characters. Check out some of the cast below:
Kevin Bacon will play a character named Owen Whistler, who will be the director alongside a number of counselors, including his wife Cora (played by Carrie Preston). Veep's Anna Chlumsky plays the camp’s newest employee and a new medic at Whistler Camp. The young They/Them cast will consist of seven characters, all of which find themselves at a conversion camp for different reasons.
The Politician actor Theo Germaine plays Jordan, a transgender and non-binary camper from a religious background who made a deal with their parents to legally emancipate if conversion therapy doesn’t “work.” Austin Crute of Booksmart plays Toby, a gay man who negiotated for a trip to New York to attend for one week and Monique Kim’s Veronica is a bisexual camper who wants to stop fighting who she is.
Also among the cast is Dear White People actor Quei Tann, who plays Alexandra, a transgender woman whose parents are threatening to kick her out if she doesn’t go. Anna Lore as Kim, a closeted lesbian who hopes that if she finally fits in she’ll be loved by her friends and family. Cooper Koch as Stu, a jock with aspirations to get a swim scholarship and join his father’s fraternity rather than being open about his sexuality. And lastly, Darwin del Fabro’s Gabriel, who a gay man who has been bullied his entire life.
They/Them will be available to stream with a Peacock subscription on August 5. While we wait, check out Blumhouse’s latest movie, Firestarter starring Zac Efron and Ryan Kiera Armstrong, hitting theaters this Friday, May 13.
