Short Film Review: Them! (2018)

The great thing about the indie short movies is the fact that they are able to explore spaces that most feature-length films, especially those made in the studio system seemly cannot do. Them! is a short sci-fi comedy that definitely goes to weird places and does the same pretty fast. Here's how the film describes itself:

Them! is a sci-fi movie. A lady hears her dog yelp and it wakes her up. When she goes downstairs to see what is the matter, she is horrified to see the dog being eaten by a Roomba and they have multiplied.

The film, directed by DeNoise Studios and starring Susie Butler, cannot be easily described beyond the word “strange” at first viewing. The plot is condensed and so is the runtime of the film, which is short even for a short feature. However, aside from its overall strangeness, there are multiple threads to the piece. 

Once you get past the oddness of the acting delivery and the plot, you can see snippets of homages - from the horror and sci-fi films of the Hollywood Golden Age to the over reacting and almost parodic absurdity of the fear of technology (the dog scene is priceless in its campness). In many ways, the film works as a short and modern rendering of an Ed Wood picture and this is something we can’t see often.

Finally, there is a big sense of freedom in the film - this short movie came out just as its creators intended it to be and that’s commendable every time. After watching Them! and just how unburdened the film is, you can see why the modern cinematography would gain a lot by once more daring to be weird and goofy.

Watch the entire Them! short film right there:

5729 Them! v5 - HIGH RES 4K from Susie Butler on Vimeo.