See The First Look At Kevin Bacon’s New LGBTQ Horror Film
Kevin Bacon is set to return to his horror roots in this LGBTQAI+ themed movie from Blumhouse and director John Logan. Take a look.
Kevin Bacon is no stranger to horror movies. One of his very first film appearances was in the original Friday the 13th, and he later played one of the creepier versions of The Invisible Man in Paul Verhoeven’s Hollow Man. He also starred in one of the most terrifying movies of all time, Footloose, which posited a horrible world in which dancing did not exist. Bacon is returning to his horror roots with a new Blumhouse Productions movie, They/Them. In this LGBTQAI+-themed film, he plays the head of a gay conversion camp that is beset with a sudden rash of unexplained murders in addition to their own horrific practices. Per Deadline, here are the first images from They/Them, which show Kevin Bacon in character as Owen Whistler at his eponymous Whistler Camp, flanked by several other camp functionaries:
As the first image of a horror film, this still from They/Them may look relatively innocuous. But there is something definitely creepy about Kevin Bacon’s combination of Dad-level cheerfulness and oddly serene eyes. They/Theme also stars The Politician’s Theo Germaine as the lead member of the youths sequestered at Whistler camp to be converted to heterosexuality and cisgender norms. It also stars Anna Chlumsky (recently of Netflix’s Inventing Anna), Carrie Preston (True Blood and The Good Wife), and Austin Crute (Netflix’s Daybreak).
They/Them is longtime screenwriter John Logan’s directorial debut; he is well known for scripting Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, and Sam Mendes’ Skyfall. He has so far been nominated for an Academy Award three times and nominated for a Tony Award twice for the play Red and for the musical adaptation of Moulin Rouge! This is will be Logan’s first time working with Kevin Bacon, which in many ways is the greatest award of all.
According to Blumhouse Productions head Jason Blum, he had been interested in producing a film about the practice of gay conversion camps for some time. John Logan had written the script for They/Them (originally titled Whistler Camp) on spec, stating that it had been an idea he had been developing for his entire life. They/Them is also described as a gay empowerment film, which likely will attempt to combat the “bury your gays” trope common in horror films and other pop culture. Gay conversion camps are an aspect of the pseudo-scientific notion of “conversion therapy,” by which non-heterosexual and non-cis individuals are attempted to be “converted” from that. It is currently banned as a practice on minors in 20 U.S states and in many countries and remains highly controversial.
As an actor, Kevin Bacon has demonstrated an amazing ability to play both heroes and villains for decades. A movie like They/Them will hopefully harness his talents for being both charismatic and unnerving in his role as the leader of a camp of adults specifically trying to convince queer youths that they are not who they are.
