They Look Like People Horror Movie Review

The world can be a scary place. It is double the terror when you are receiving anonymous phone calls, telling you that the people surrounding you are not really human and that a life-threatening war is about to occur. We discover how it feels in “They Look Like People” which made its International premiere out of the USA at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

Wyatt is staying with his old friend, Christian, for a little while, after having lost touch with him for numerous years. However, Wyatt is tense about something. Christian doesn’t know why, but he sees that his buddy is acting strangely. You see, through late night anonymous phone calls, Wyatt has been warned that those around him, in any town or street, are not human. Everyone’s life is in danger. He has been advised to be extremely cautious and arm up to defend himself against the unknown. Who isn’t what they seem to be? Is Christian one of “them” as well? Is this potential threat even real or is Wyatt imagining all of this?

Director Perry Blackshear does a great job at creating a very tense atmosphere with very little. Special effects are not needed here: creepy telephonic conversation and an odd, constantly stressed out Wyatt (MacLeod Andrews) will create tension that you can cut with a knife. Evan Dumouchel, interpreting the career-driven Christian, also delivers a strong performance, attempting to develop a relationship with his own boss.

“They Look Like People” is purely focused on the dangerous mix of stress, fear and paranoia brought forth by Wyatt. From the very first scenes that we witness, we know that Wyatt is distressed about something and cautious about most decisions that he makes. It all mounts to a nerve-racking, disquieting finale, doubting if the feared “beings” are real or not.

Despite some more than decent acting by our two protagonists, the film fails to deliver in truly flipping you upside down in fear or total skepticism. I understand that the movie was probably run on a very low budget and wanted to keep its focal point on creeping, psychological paranoia, but to keep the doubt alive concerning Wyatt, aside from the nightly phone calls, there could have been something visually impressive. There was something missing from this movie to bring it up a notch on the entertainment scale.

You should nonetheless give “They Look Like People” a view to help genre cinema, as well as independent cinema, get some recognition, as it still deserves a respectable 3.5 stars out of 5.