Peacock unleashed the first images today for its new original film, They/Them (pronounced “they slash them,” for reasons that will become rapidly apparent), a new film that stars Kevin Bacon as the lead counselor of an LGBTQ+ “conversion” camp where a string of slasher-style murders suddenly break out. (Get it? “They slash them?” We told you it’d be readily apparent.)
The film is being written and directed by John Logan (whose writing credits include Alien: Covenant and several of the recent Bond movies), who explained a bit of the genesis for the film in a statement accompanying the pics:
They/Them has been germinating within me my whole life. I’ve loved horror movies as long as I can remember, I think because monsters represent ‘the other’ and as gay kid I felt a powerful sense of kinship with those characters who were different, outlawed, or forbidden. I wanted to make a movie that celebrates queerness, with characters that I never saw when I was growing up. When people walk away from the movie, I hope they’re going to remember the incredible love that these kids have for each other and how that love needs to be protected and celebrated.
The film stars Kevin Bacon, Anna Chlumsky, and Carrie Preston as the adult operators of Whistler Camp, and Theo Germaine, Quei Tann, Austin Crute, Monique Kim, Anna Lore, Cooper Koch, and Darwin Del Fabro as the various teenagers entrusted to their “care.” The logline notes that the camp ominously promises to “help them find a new sense of freedom,” and then, also, murders. From character descriptions, the crew of kids sounds like the standard array of slasher film fodder—except, of course, for the fact that they’ve all been bribed, coerced, or convinced into attending conversion camp, which definitely puts a new spin on an old formula.
The film was produced by Blumhouse’s Jason Blum, with Bacon serving as an executive producer. Logan’s movie debuts on NBC-owned Peacock on August 5.