Rating: 
Summary: They had all the elements to make it a good movie, but....
Review: They failed (in more ways than one).One of the big things about this movie were the characters, since 'They' are only after four of them. But the makers of this film did not develop any of the characters very well, so I didn't care if any of them died or not. Especially the guy that committed suicide. They also did not explain anything! Like, what was that bone/splinter doing in her head? How did it get there? Why was it there? And why were 'They' coming after those 4? It felt like the makers were too lazy to answer any of these questions, resulting in a short, shallow movie with plot holes and confusion. This movie made me mad instead of scared, although I tried my best to enjoy it, which was enjoyable at a few points. They were just few and far between. This really could have been a great movie. They had a very good idea with the monsters and everything, but they never fell through with it. They could have utilized the baby-crying, and the lights turning off better, but they didn't. They could have developed the characters better, but they didn't. Laura Regan could have eaten something, but she didn't. They could have done a lot of things, but they didn't. I wouldn't recommend watching this film, but maybe you should watch it just to see what this movie could have been!
Rating: 
Summary: THEY are coming for you
Review: Okay, I must say this. I can see why people didn't exactly, or didn't like this movie. Most horror movies are ruined by the endings, and this was one of them. Even with the alternate ending, the whole movie would have led to sadness. There was really no way out for Julia from the beginning because THEY had her trapped from the start. Julia (Laura Regan) is a Psychologist in training at college. As a Psychologist, she would come up with a logical explanation for things that are happening. But there is no way to get out of the reality that her world will fall apart around her. When her lifelong friend Billy tries to warn Julia that THEY, the monsters in their closet which may not be so imaginative, are coming back for them, she knows he must be teetering on the brink of insanity. Billy shows her a strange scar that he believes came from THEY so he can be identified, she still thinks there has to be an explanation. When he takes his own life right in front of her, she finally realizes his overactive mind may not have not been so fake after all. When several people she meets end up with a strange and mysterious mark, just like the one Billy had, out of nowhere, she knows he may have been right. When the same mark appears on her forehead, and something comes out of it, she knows she doesn't have much time to live. As she tries to escape the horrorfick vortex that THEY have caught her in, THEY finally come after her in a way she cannot escape. The acting in the movie was okay. I have to say the only good acting in the whole thing was done by Laura Regan. She was great. The plot was good, but if only they could've made it a better ending. Like someone said before, the alternate ending would have given it the Wes Craven idea. Somewhat like Alfred Hitchcock, or John Carpenter. But why was it called Wes Craven presnts They? He didn't even write the story. That was probably ...for publicity just to get attention. I thought the movie would be somewhat perdictable, but it wasn't nearly as perdictable as I thought, considering THEY would jump out at any time, all of the sudden. That's what it gave you that scary feeling. I give it four stars because of a good plot.
Rating: 
Summary: Middle of the Road Horror Flick
Review: Julia Lund (Laura Regan), a psychology student, and her friend Billy Parks (Jon Abrahams) suffered from night terrors as children. Billy kept an observational diary on the phenomenon from the time he was a child; then as an adult he sought other sufferers out Sam Burnside (Ethan Embry) and Terry Alba (Dagmara Domincyzk). He discovers that each of them were marked as children (implanted with tracking devices) so that beings from this nightmare realm could come and claim them as adults. When it's time from them to be collected the mark returns. These beings use darkness as a doorway into our world and are capable of affecting electrical systems. Billy commits suicide to keep them from getting him. Then the marks return for Terry, Sam and Julia. I prefer the disturbing ending that the filmmakers decided to go with rather than the more mundane alternative ending. It made the movie stand out in my mind from other horror movies. Still this was a kind of middle of the road horror flick not spectacular but not truly bad either. I'd recommend it for a dark and rainy night!
Rating:
Summary: They Said It Was Good... They Lied!
Review: I could forgive the movie for not making sense (the rather desperate "it was all a dream" alternate ending serves notice, by the way, that the filmmakers were pretty confused themselves), if only it were properly nightmarish, and served up with a few good jumps. It was not. The heroine ran around, fretting and looking kind of like Mia Farrow, and the aliens or the demons or whatever they were, never seemed especially threatening, just very, very gooey. Yuck.
Rating:
Summary: Nice try, but it falls short.
Review: You're a little bored. Laura Reagan's figure. Dagmara Dominczyk's face. 3 reasons to see this one. This film is more suspenseful than scary. Anyone who judges this film to BE scary must also jump at any loud noise. Four young adults, preyed upon as children by "night terror monsters," are stalked again twenty years after the fact. They were "marked" as children, now they must be "marked" again and harvested. These people are supposed to be bright and educated, but they behave otherwise. The creatures coming for them vanish in bright light, but do these people stay near light, preferably close to people? Or do they take middle-of-nowhere drives, swims, and subway station walks, at night and alone? Yes, it's THAT kind of film. The performances are generally good, it's just the main characters don't particularly stand out. The creatures are rather terrifying-looking, but they bear a strong "Alien" resemblance. On the DVD features, an alternate ending is shown, an ending in which the young female lead may have imagined everything that happened from her asylum-bed. I kind of liked this ending, as it explained things better than the film tried to. An okay moive to watch on a rainy afternoon; if you aren't expecting to be thrilled, you may like this after all.
Rating:
Summary: They hide in the dark so you can't see them, Julia...
Review: You can tell that "Wes Craven Presents They" is a horror film because it looks like a horror film (dark and creepy) and it sounds like a horror film (unrelenting ominous music). The fact that the title is "Wes Craven Presents They" is another clue that it is supposed to be a horror film, but the problem is that for most of this thriller it is working so hard to be a horror film that it ultimately fails. The "they" in "They" are basically the things that go bump in the night, although in the film's prologue, set nineteen years earlier, one small child finds out that they do more than that. The title of "They" reminds me of the black & white sci fi classic "Them," the difference being that in the latter we got to see the giant ants in all their giant puppet glory and in this film we are not really sure what "They" are. We know that they come in the dark and maybe there is something to do with a doorway opening between our world and their world or dimension or cubbyhole or whatever. The heroine in distress is Julia Lund (Laura Regan), who is finishing up her master's degree in psychology. As a child she was plagued by "night terrors," and those come rushing back again after a friend kills himself, insisting that that horrible creatures of the night have been coming after him in the dark and that they will be coming for Julia next. Suddenly defending her thesis is not the worst thing she has to face in the week to come. Of course, the obvious irony is that as creepy things start happening to her everyone starts to think that Julia should be declared a crazy person and should not be in any position to treat them. Brendan Hood is credited as the screenwriter for "They," but my understanding is that he came up with the basic idea and original draft and then about a dozen writers and producers came in and turned it into this mess. I was totally surprised at the end of this movie. Not "surprised" in the sense that the ending was unexpected, but "surprised" in the sense that suddenly the movie was over and as the credits started to roll I stopped munching my popcorn and said, "That's it?" However, this ending is better than the alternative ending, even though it makes less sense (you will understand when you see the alternative ending). Lund, who played Jessica Lynch in last year's made for TV film, does a good enough job given what the script gives her to work with in this 2002 film. However, the actress is done a disservice by a totally unnecessary nude shot. When you make a point of avoiding showing body parts in several bedroom scenes and then suddenly do it for no reason whatsoever, it offends me. Making a horror film that is not scary offends me too, but not as much. It was nice to see Marc Blucas as Julia's boyfriend, showing that the abilities to deal with a strange girl friend that he showed on television's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" are still going strong. Seeing him also reminded me of another film by a "BtVS" alumni, "Darkness Falls," with Emma Caulfield, which also has something that only goes bump in the night. You might consider them as a late night double bill, because between them you might find enough scenes for a decent horror film.
Rating:
Summary: Fairly Disappointing
Review: Coming from Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street fame), I had fairly high expectations. But when I saw that the movie, made by Wes, was only PG-13, it made me wonder what kind of movie this really was. The story based around Julia Lund (Laura Regan) who, after witnessing a horrific and traumatic event, gradually comes to the realization that everything which scared her as a child could be real. And what's worse, it might be coming back to get her. This isn't a new idea or story and that's why I was fairly disappointed with this film. Wes could have done a lot better.
Rating:
Summary: Wes Craven Presents...
Review: When your movie is (un)lucky enough to have the tagline "Wes Craven Presents...", people instantly think of such classics as A Nightmare On Elm Street or The Scream Trilogy. However, one should also remember the last movie that was blessed/cursed with the same tag, the god awful Dracula 2000. They isn't much better than Dracula 2000, but it is better. The story, although filled with holes, is a good one overall. Obviously the makers had great intentions, though many of them must have been left on the cutting room floor. This movie is about night creatures that lurk and haunt peoples dreams and then come after them in their real lives. Do these creatures exist or are the people the creatures "haunt" just insane and seeing things? That's the trick up this movie's sleeve and by the end of it, you won't really care. The premise is good, the acting just okay (the best performance from Buffy's Marc Blucas who is great in everything) and the intentions are good like I mentioned before. But that doesn't save this movie, or any movie for that matter. Too many plot holes and too many boring, paranoid characters add up to a whole lot of nothing. I would only suggest watching this movie for it's creepy atmosphere and it's chilling opening sequence where a little boy sees something in his dark room. That will keep you entertained for about 5 minutes.
Rating:
Summary: PLEASE EXPLAIN!
Review: If you know that there are creatures out there that lurk in the dark and want to kill you, why not just take up residence in the lighting department at Lowe's? Honestly, I couldn't enjoy this movie because it seemed like the characters were neglecting the most basic self-protection. Me, I'd buy a generator, candles, battery-operated lanterns, etc.
Other than that, the movie is OK. The alternate ending on the DVD would also have made this a better film.
Rating:
Summary: They hide in the dark so you can't see them, Julia...
Review: You can tell that "Wes Craven Presents They" is a horror film because it looks like a horror film (dark and creepy) and it sounds like a horror film (unrelenting ominous music). The fact that the title is "Wes Craven Presents They" is another clue that it is supposed to be a horror film, but the problem is that for most of this thriller it is working so hard to be a horror film that it ultimately fails. The "they" in "They" are basically the things that go bump in the night, although in the film's prologue, set nineteen years earlier, one small child finds out that they do more than that. The title of "They" reminds me of the black & white sci fi classic "Them," the difference being that in the latter we got to see the giant ants in all their giant puppet glory and in this film we are not really sure what "They" are. We know that they come in the dark and maybe there is something to do with a doorway opening between our world and their world or dimension or cubbyhole or whatever. The heroine in distress is Julia Lund (Laura Regan), who is finishing up her master's degree in psychology. As a child she was plagued by "night terrors," and those come rushing back again after a friend kills himself, insisting that that horrible creatures of the night have been coming after him in the dark and that they will be coming for Julia next. Suddenly defending her thesis is not the worst thing she has to face in the week to come. Of course, the obvious irony is that as creepy things start happening to her everyone starts to think that Julia should be declared a crazy person and should not be in any position to treat them. Brendan Hood is credited as the screenwriter for "They," but my understanding is that he came up with the basic idea and original draft and then about a dozen writers and producers came in and turned it into this mess. I was totally surprised at the end of this movie. Not "surprised" in the sense that the ending was unexpected, but "surprised" in the sense that suddenly the movie was over and as the credits started to roll I stopped munching my popcorn and said, "That's it?" However, this ending is better than the alternative ending, even though it makes less sense (you will understand when you see the alternative ending). Lund, who played Jessica Lynch in last year's made for TV film, does a good enough job given what the script gives her to work with in this 2002 film. However, the actress is done a disservice by a totally unnecessary nude shot. When you make a point of avoiding showing body parts in several bedroom scenes and then suddenly do it for no reason whatsoever, it offends me. Making a horror film that is not scary offends me too, but not as much. It was nice to see Marc Blucas as Julia's boyfriend, showing that the abilities to deal with a strange girl friend that he showed on television's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" are still going strong. Seeing him also reminded me of another film by a "BtVS" alumni, "Darkness Falls," with Emma Caulfield, which also has something that only goes bump in the night. You might consider them as a late night double bill, because between them you might find enough scenes for a decent horror film.
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