Kevin Bacon Felt A 'Sense Of Pride' Working On His Worst-Rated Movie On IMDb

On paper, John Logan's 2022 slasher movie "They/Them" (pronounced "they-slash-them") is an excellent idea. Like so many horror movies before it, "They/Them" is set at a summer camp where the campers and counselors are being systematically murdered by a mysterious assailant, similar to any one of the "Friday the 13th" or "Sleepaway Camp" movies. This time, however, the summer camp in question is Whistler Camp, one of those monstrous gay conversion camps. The campers are all queer kids who have been shipped there against their will by bigoted parents who feel that their queerness can be removed through systematic religious abuse and torture. In 2020, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims declared conversion camps to be a form of torture. As of this writing, only 27 of the 50 United States have banned them.

The protagonist of "They/Them" is Jordan (Theo Germaine), a nonbinary teen who aims to emancipate themselves from their parents. Jordan is one of only a handful of cinematic protagonists who is declaratively nonbinary. The film progresses as one might expect, with the daytimes being filled with belittling "therapy" overseen by the disturbingly placid head counselor Owen (Kevin Bacon). Meanwhile, the nights are filled with fear as a stalker lurks around the camp, murdering the employees.

Again, on paper, this feels like a great revenge thriller centered around the people who run conversion camps. In execution, though, the movie falls flat, failing to either address its ideas very well or dig deeper into the true horrors of conversion camps. It's also clumsily filmed and not very scary, which accounts for it 4 out of 10 average rating on IMDb. Brian Tallerico was one of many critics who gave the film an unflattering review, writing for RogerEbert.com that "They/Them" tries to be both campy and serious yet fails to pull off that balancing act, much less engage with its themes in any meaningful way. Representation matters, of course, but execution does as well.

Speaking to People Magazine in 2022, though, Bacon said he was proud to be associated with "They/Them" — mostly because of its queer representation but also due to its earnest attempts to expose and excoriate conversion camps.

Bacon is certainly no stranger to horror movies and has played his share of heavies in his career, but Owen Whistler may be one of his most wicked characters yet. Bacon had to play the part as well as he could (and, as always, he does an exemplary job), but the actor was more focused on his co-stars. He wound up sharing the screen with multiple young queer actors whom he greatly admired and was inspired by. In the People interview, he was very open about his feelings, saying:

"While I was really in the headspace of the character, there was also a part of me that was feeling very moved by the fact that here was this group of our future, of young people who identify in all different kinds of ways, who have come together and are going to be represented in this film in hopefully a way that they haven't often been in the past. [...] And certainly not in a sort of mainstream horror genre film. [...] I had a sense of pride about that. I really did."

"They/Them" was written and directed by Logan, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of "Gladiator," "The Aviator," and "Hugo." Logan has also been nominated for an Emmy and won a Tony, so suffice it to say, he's no slouch when it comes to making movies. With "They/Them," however, he felt out of his element, unable to grasp the baseline, prurient thrills that make for a decent slasher. Perhaps he and Bacon should have rewatched the original "Friday the 13th," itself one of Bacon's earliest movies.

Still, as Bacon observed, "They/Them" might yet provide a valuable service to any young queer/trans/nonbinary kids who may watch it. As he put it, "Some kid who is feeling 'other than' or closeted or bullied will watch the film and see someone who's a little bit more like them, feel a sense of 'Yeah, let's kick ass' and solidarity." It's no queer classic, but if "They/Them" helps one kid, then it's done well enough.