A football horror film? ‘Him’ brings gridiron violence to big screen

Who’s afraid of fictional football on the big screen? Not the Washington Commanders.

The sports-horror film “Him”— which hits theaters nationwide on Friday — depicts an up-and-coming quarterback whose life goes awry as he trains under the enigmatic “GOAT,” the greatest of all time. 

The novel premise has piqued the interest of football fans, players and film scholars across the country. Thousands of moviegoers have already bought tickets to be scared by football, a premise that’s puzzling to some current NFL players.

“They don’t know what’s going on in here,” Commanders defensive lineman Javon Kinlaw said in the team’s locker room.

But the fact that the film is produced by Jordan Peele, known for directing hit horror movies “Get Out,” “Us” and “Nope,” has added to the buzz. 

“He’s a director I like and admire, so I’ll definitely watch it,” Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner said. 

Sports horror films are few and far between. It’s a subgenre that Samantha Sheppard, a professor at department chair at Cornell University’s Cinema and Media Studies department, said is overdue for its time in the limelight. Football, in particular, makes a lot of sense for a cinematic treatment.

“There’s always a lot of interest around football. … It’s in this age of social media and self-education, agency, control in a game that is horrific. It does horrific things to the body,” she said. “[The filmmakers] are picking up on that and a kind of psychology that asks, ‘Who is still playing this game?’”

The answer to Ms. Sheppard’s rhetorical question sits in NFL locker rooms around the country. Many of them are eager to see how a horror film can tackle their beloved sport.

“I’ve never seen a horror movie as it relates to sports or football especially. I’m excited about it,” Commanders safety Will Harris said. “It’s an interesting few that choose to sign up for this sport. You have to be all-in. That’s what makes us football players, we’re willing to go in there and put our face in the fan.”

The Commanders players think it’s an easy win — millions of Americans tune in to NFL games every week. Logic would dictate that some of them would flock to theaters to see the sport on the big screen. 

“America’s game. Why would you not make a movie?” Wagner said. 

The sports-horror field isn’t without its niche offerings. But 1990’s “Night of the Dribbler” and 1982’s “Slumber Party Massacre” — both about men killing young basketball players one-by-one — leaned more into campy killers than any kind of psychological horror. 

But “Him” promises a more elevated offering. The trailers — much discussed on social media and in the Commanders’ locker room — show off a slow build and a thriller-like approach that more closely resembles “Get Out” than any of the cheesy sports slashers of years past. 

“‘Him’ is different,” Ms. Sheppard said. “You’ve got Jordan Peele, who is this respected producer now known for making these horror films that are deeply psychological, that are invested in larger kinds of legacies. We might see a version of a sports film that is not with the lineage of those exploitation narratives.”

Trailers for the film, director Justin Tipping’s second feature, showed staples of the modern horror film: copious amounts of blood, an unnerving score and intense performances from lead actors Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers. 

The screams are a staple, though they came from testosterone-filled football players instead of more stereotypical scream queens.

Still, Kinlaw is expecting a laugh riot. The casting of Mr. Wayans in a lead role — best known for comedic roles in “White Chicks” and the horror parody “Scary Movie” — only added to that expectation. 

“I thought it was a funny movie with Marlon in it. It looked funny,” Kinlaw said. 

Nothing about football scares the Commanders at this point. The athletes said they can understand why the physicality, pressure and spotlight of the sport would suit a horror film, though. 

“It’s a lot of head-banging and head trauma going on. We’re the modern-day gladiators. It’s the most physical and brutal sport, you can see that,” Kinlaw said. “I love this s—.”

But excerpts from the trailer — like an X-ray shot showing a concussion in real time or a scene with a man being brutalized by a football-throwing Jugs machine — put many casual viewers on edge. 

“They leaned on the nature of the game a little bit,” Harris said. “Football is a violent sport, so they made that correlation.”

Wagner and Ms. Sheppard dug deeper into the trailer, analyzing the potential for social commentary in the story.

“There’s something really interesting about this genre, because just like sports themselves, they traffic in this illusion that they’ll be apolitical,” she said. But she said previous sports films have shown fans that “these are highly contested arenas with so much discourse about gender, race, nation, money, violence, all of these things.”

The brutality and fame depicted in “Him” likely won’t be the scariest part of the movie, Wagner reckoned. The thought of what waits at the end of the career could keep audiences — or other players — up at night. 

“It’s like the women, the money, the things that people fall for with this game, that you lose yourself,” Wagner said. “You lose yourself to money, you lose yourself to fame, you lose yourself to the women, and then when they take the game away from you, you don’t know who you are, because you fell for the trap.”

That’s the challenge for players. Keeping their minds and bodies healthy is one thing. Holistically preparing themselves for the post-NFL life is another. 

“The hardest part, whether you play three years, or 14 years is how can you remain the same and not lose yourself? Because it’s really tough. You’re in high school, you’re the man. In college, you’re the man. If you are lucky enough to play at a high level, you are the man,” the likely future Hall of Famer said. “And then somebody replaces you. You’re forgotten.”

“Him” will almost certainly touch on that idea — why else would they cast a 53-year-old Wayans to play a legendary passer on the edge of retirement? Withers’ character, a recent draft pick, is a rising star willing to sacrifice anything to match “the GOAT.”

“I would assume that that’s more so what the movie is about, rather than, like, the horror of it is: What does it take to be great? That’s scary in itself,” Wagner said. “How do you not lose yourself in all of the things that take away from this children’s game?”

Those fears are purely hypothetical for the Commanders’ defensive signal-caller.

“I’m blessed,” Wagner said with a smile.