Him (2025): A Review

HIM (2025)

One of the most infamous lost films is Him, a 1974 gay erotic film. Why would anyone care about this particular erotic feature? Him is about, if Wikipedia is to be believed and I am not joking, a gay man who develops an erotic fixation with the life of Jesus Christ. I imagine that this Him, whose existence has been doubted, would not stop at just showing in graphic detail the contemporary young man's carnal longings. Putting aside the blasphemy this Him went into, I could not help wishing that the 2025 Him had similarly found itself a lost film. Him is more than a disaster. It is a horribly boring, nonsensical film, drowning in its vapid visuals.

Cameron Cade has grown up idolizing San Antonio Saviors quarterback Isaiah White all his life. Isaiah suffered a major injury during a major championship (the suggestion is that it is the Super Bowl, but it is called merely a championship). Nevertheless, Cameron's father insists that this is what men do: make sacrifices. "I AM HIM!", young Cam keeps shouting.

Moving on eight years, Cameron (Tyriq Withers) is now a major college quarterback who is a big-time prospect for the National Football League. He is predicted to be the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). He might even be better than his idol Isaiah (Marlon Wayans) even if Isaiah has eight championship rings. Cameron seems on the cusp of maybe even joining his beloved San Antonio Saviors, especially with rumors that Isaiah White might finally be retiring. A shocking attack on Cameron before going to the Combine, however, might derail those chances.

Requiring head stitches that curiously resemble football laces, Cam still goes to the Combine. He runs the risk of permanent injury after his Nancy Kerrigan-like attack after suffering a major concussion. However, he cannot give up his chance. It looks, however, like he won't be able to show off his football prowess until he gets an unexpected surprise. Isaiah White has invited Cameron to train at his isolated facility. Could Isaiah be looking for a protege and successor?

Yes and no. In those seven days out there, Cameron finds himself in a charged world. There is eroticism from Isaiah's wife Elise (Julie White), a successful influencer. There are the brutal and violent training methods from Isaiah and the curious behavior of his doctor, Marco (Jim Jefferies). There are crazed and murderous Isaiah White fans who cannot allow anyone to take his place. There is also the undertone of literal demonic figures floating about Isaiah's training camp. Will Cameron fall to the shadowy forces surrounding him?

Him is director Justin Tippin's second film and first in almost a decade, having spent that time directing for television. I have never seen his directorial debut Kicks, but I sincerely hope that it is better than the boring, pretentious Him. Him is not directed. It is assaulted. You can see this in the various performances. 

This is my first encounter with Tyriq Withers. He is a very attractive man, and Him features him many times shirtless. The film even gives us a few moments of Withers nude, albeit from the back. There was so much of Withers in various stages of undress that I wondered if he was a model making his feature film debut. Withers has, like Tippin, done mostly television work. I haven't seen Withers in anything else, but Him gives him nothing to do except walk around with little clothing. Withers was shockingly emotionless throughout the film. No matter how crazed the situation, no matter what evil he witnessed, Withers looked either bored or confused. On Day IV: Resilience (each day has a title complete with Roman numeral) Cameron awakens to Isaiah literally pointing a gun at him and Withers looks quite unconcerned. One wonders how dim Cameron is. On Day II: Poise, Isaiah has Cam repeat tossing the football to his catchers. Should he fail to complete the pass, Isaiah has one of his underlings launch a football straight at someone else's face. At that point, a sane person would have quit this loony training camp and reported Isaiah to anyone. This being Him, Withers' Cameron at least to be fair looks mildly concerned but goes along with it anyway. 

I admit to finding a lot of Him comical. Tyriq Withers is a major reason for that. He did not act. He posed. Rob Gronkowski has more range as the USAA pitchman than Tyriq Withers does throughout Him. 

Not that Marlon Wayans helps any. I am not exactly sure why anyone would believe that someone like Marlon Wayans would be a professional football player, let alone someone who would easily tower over a Tom Brady physically or athletically. I figure that seeing how almost comatose Withers was, Wayans felt that he needed to be as hammy as he was. His efforts to be either quietly menacing or ferocious met with the same result: suppressed giggles to outright laughter. 

I do not know if Him aimed to make Julia Fox's Elise look creepy AF as the kids say.  I found her character unnecessary. I think the same for Naomi Grossman's Marjorie, the crazed Isaiah fan that somehow managed to break into Isaiah's tightly controlled training room and try to murder Cameron in the sauna. Looking like Lady Gaga in Joker: Folie a Deux, Grossman was to be fair going all-in on the cray-cray. I just kept wondering how she got into such a super-secure site. 

The logical reason would be that Marjorie was let in by someone who wanted Cameron dead. However, that does not make any sense on any level. The entire idea of "Isaiah White super-fans" does not make any sense on any level. Him, however, does not care about logic or plot. Whole plot points and characters, like Cameron's brother, girlfriend and mother, all pretty much are dropped mid-film. 

Him cares only about visuals. Him is self-indulgent with its portrayals of dark decadence and subtle to overt demonic imagery (the film ends with someone dragged by unseen forces into a pentagram before being ripped apart, though we do not see the dismemberment). The San Antonio Saviors have these vaguely voodoo mascots that look like the love child of Grimace and Cousin Itt. We even get a very quick shot of a parody of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper with Cameron taking the place of Christ. Why exactly this blink-and-you'll-miss it moment is there is anyone's guess. 

As a side note, I find the name "San Antonio Saviors" to be so implausible that it lends itself to suggestions that Him is just downright idiotic. 

Him wants to be this creep-fest, with the various reds dominating the scenes and dismembered heads going around. There is, however, no real shock. There is some lecturing: Isaiah tells Cameron, "As a black quarterback, I had to be great to be good". Him is the worst movie that I have seen this year so far. Given the catalog of dreadful films 2025 has unleashed, it is something of an accomplishment. Him is not the GOAT. It is the goat's entrails. 

In the end, the 1974 and 2025 Him have one thing in common. They both have erotic fixations on the main character.   

DECISION: F