Prime-Video - Them : the must-watch series of April

By Mulder, 04 april 2021

Them is an American horror streaming anthology series created by Little Marvin and executive produced by Lena Waithe. The series stars Deborah Ayorinde and Ashley Thomas and will launch globally on Prime Video on April 9, 2021. On July 28, 2018, Amazon gave the project a two-season order. The series was created by Little Marvin, who also wrote the script for the first season and is expected to executive produce the show alongside The Chi's Lena Waithe as part of their overall deals with Amazon Studios. Roy Lee, Miri Yoon and Michael Connolly of Vertigo Entertainment are executive producing, with Vertigo co-producing the series as part of its deal with Sony Pictures Television.

The first season (Them: Covenant) follows a limited semi-anthological structure similar to American Horror Story and follows an African-American family who, during the second great migration, move from North Carolina to an all-white neighborhood in Los Angeles. The family's idyllic home slowly turns into an epicenter of evil forces, both neighboring and alien, that threaten to taunt, ravage and destroy them.

We were fortunate enough to have the entire first season of ten episodes at our disposal. We were immediately hooked by the atmosphere of this series which benefits from an inspired direction, a superb photography and mixes with intelligence a realistic setting with an interesting look at the integration of minorities in the United States with horrific elements. Even if some aspects of the series tend to show that the writers Little Marvin supported by Dominic Orlando, Francine Volpe, Christina Ham, David Matthews, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld are surfing on the success of Jordan Peele's universe (Get out (2017), Us (2019) and the Lovecraft County series), the story told here incorporates enough innovative elements and especially recall by some horrific intrusions a universe closer to Stephen King than to H.P Lovecraft.

Indeed, the scriptwriters orient the story towards a psychological (but also visual) horror and integrate a not very glorious time for the United States in which being a minority meant having to undergo the psychological attacks of neighbors showing an obvious racism and a refusal to see their habits changed. As the text in the Episode 1 embedding so clearly shows, between 1916 and 1970, approximately 6 million African Americans moved from rural areas of the southern United States to the Northwest, Midwest, and West. Known as the "Great Migration," many black families were drawn to California by the promise of industrial jobs and the opportunity to leave the Jim Crow South. On September 14, 1953, Henry and Livia Emory moved their family from Chatham country, North Carolina to Compton, California. Here's what happens over ten days in the family's new home at 3011 Palmer Drive... A few sentences are enough to place the spectators in a universe as disturbing as realistic in which events will occur.

This first season can be seen as a story worthy of a movie but taking the time to set the action, develop the characters and especially play perfectly with the nerves of the spectators. We take the blows at the same time as the Emory family and we can only be in their camp so much the neighbors around them show a contempt and a total lack of sympathy. Far from being linear, each episode has its share of strong scenes, surprises and above all, shows a particular care to develop a disturbing framework that creates a real chemistry to return the attention of the viewers and offer them their dose of adrenaline and strong scenes they need.

It is interesting to see the different references to horrific films of the past years and we will think in particular of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) (bus scene), Poltergeist (1982) (the ghosts that seem to be everywhere...) but also several successful adaptations of Stephen King as Shining (1980) and more recently It (2017). This atmosphere guarantees that the spectators will jump several times on their couch and become quickly addicted to a series intelligently conceived and carried by an excellent cast.

While many current series prefer to bet on outrageous special effects, Them takes its time to set up its characters, its deceptive appearances and especially stands out as the best new series seen recently. It should be noted that the 10 episodes composing this excellent first season will all be available on April 9, enough to spend an excellent weekend in the warmth and then wait impatiently for season 2 whose development we will follow with the greatest attention.

Synopsis:
Set in 1953, Them: Covenant follows an African-American family who, during the Second Great Migration, moves from North Carolina to an all-white neighborhood in Los Angeles. The family's idyllic home slowly turns into an epicenter of evil forces, both neighboring and alien, that threaten to taunt, ravage and destroy them.

Them
A series created by Little Marvin
With Deborah Ayorinde, Ashley Thomas, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Alison Pill, Ryan Kwanten, Melody Hurd, Javier Botet, Percy Hynes White
Executive Producers: Michael Connolly, Larysa Kondracki, Don Kurt, Roy Lee, David Matthews, Lena Waithe, Miri Yoon
Production: Amazon Studios, Sony Pictures Television, Vertigo Entertainment
Distributor : Amazon Studios
Original Network : Prime Video