Him: A Sports-Horror Hybrid That Falls Flat on Nearly Every Level (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Justin Tipping's "Him," a supernatural horror flick released merely two months ago, was a rather bizarre case of a film that built up its hype based solely on the fact that Academy Award-winner Jordan Peele, noted for his own horror films like "Get Out" and "Nope," was one of its producers. The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews and failed to drum up any interest at the box office, causing it to disappear from theaters pretty quickly, along with the hype that had been circling it prior to its release. Is there a chance that it's not quite as bad as it was made out to be, or was this simply an instance where both critics & audiences were perfectly in sync and right on the mark regarding the quality of the film?

The film focuses on Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers), a promising football star who hopes to follow in the footsteps of beloved quarterback Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), who is supposedly nearing his retirement after quite a successful career, even after a major injury that nearly brought it to an end. While training for the scouting combine, Cameron is attacked by a mysterious assailant dressed as a goat, causing a head injury that has him skipping the event. Shortly after, his agent Tom (Tim Heidecker) informs him that Isaiah wants to train him at his private compound in the desert to see if he's a worthy successor, a chance that the young man jumps at. The training is quite intense, but Cameron soon finds out that there's something more going on than just that, something involving Isaiah's blood that he keeps getting injected with, causing unexpected changes in him. Will he be able to power through the training and become the great star he wants to be, or will it end up being too much for him to handle?

"Him" is a rather strange experience in that, from the start, it makes itself out to be a fairly standard sports-related outing about a young man trying to become the next great football star. However, it soon hints at something much darker on the horizon as peculiar incidents begin to occur, which actually brings with it a sigh of relief as the audience is informed that this isn't just going to be another cliched sports film. The unfortunate part is that the relief is all-too-temporary as the film quickly becomes a bizarre exercise in patience that has the viewer waiting for further development in its story or characters, development that sadly never comes throughout the entirety of these relatively brief 90 minutes.

It very clearly wants to be a horror film of some kind, but it's far too hesitant to truly lean into those elements enough to make it have any effect, while even on the sports side, it remains an overly-familiar story of trying to become a great athlete, which leaves both sides severely lacking in enough substance to draw the audience in to its twisted tale. To make matters even worse, at the end of these meandering 90 minutes, it all comes down to a completely nonsensical, gratuitous bloodbath that merely reinforces the fact that the film had absolutely nothing going for it up to that point, shown clearly by how they try to deliver an extreme finale in hopes of leaving at least a small impact, a goal that falls just as flat as the film's other various elements.

Overall, "Him" is one of those projects where it should've been obvious to anyone reading the screenplay that is just doesn't work in the least. You basically spend the entire duration waiting for it to come to a point, only to find that it doesn't have one, and that you've merely wasted an hour and a half of your time. In the end, critics were right to lambast it, just as much as audiences were right to reject it. It's one of the very worst films of 2025, and is one that's very much rightfully avoided.

Video/Audio:

"Him" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of outstanding quality, featuring an image that remains clear & sharp throughout the film's entire 97-minute duration, even in its darkest scenes. Likewise, the Dolby Atmos audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, Universal has done a wonderful job in both areas for the film's physical debut.

Special Features:

Feature Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Justin Tipping

Becoming Them (9 Minutes): A look at how the cast got into their characters.

The Sport of Filmmaking (10 Minutes): A look behind the scenes at the making of the film.

Hymns of a Goat (5 Minutes): A featurette that explores the film's music.

Anatomy of a Scene - "A Diabolical Game of Catch" (4 Minutes)

Anatomy of a Scene - "Rebirth" (5 Minutes)

Deleted Scenes (5 Sequences, 13 Minutes)

Alternate Ending - "Zay's Nightmare" (2 Minutes)

Deleted End Credits Scene - "Food or Freedom" (1 Minute)

Conclusion:

Justin Tipping's "Him" is an attempted sports-horror hybrid that sadly fails not just in both of its genres, but in practically all of its other elements as well, from its woefully-underdeveloped characters & narrative to its distinct lack of substance to the pointless, gratuitous bloodbath at its conclusion. It's a project that any sensible person should've rejected at the screenplay stage, but instead was turned into an unfortunate 90-minute exercise in patience that ultimately results in one of the worst films of the year.

Score: 2/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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