Football is sport, football can be fantasy, and football now can be … horror?
There have been plenty of football movies over the years, including such fare as “Any Given Sunday,” “The Program,” “Rudy,” “We Are Marshall,” and plenty more. These are usually based on true stories or tales of hard work and/or redemption.
Leave it to filmmaker Jordan Peele to take an entirely new tact.
What Is The New Jordan Peele Film HIM About?
On Friday, the trailer for “HIM” – for which Peele is a producer – was released.
“Greatness demands sacrifice,” reads the social media copy attached to the video. At first, this seems like it will be another one of those hard work/redemption films.
But this is Peele, who has been involved in such scary tales as “Get Out,” “Nope” and “Us.”
There’s more to this story than just a football player working out to be the best.
That’s, of course, how the trailer begins, with a voiceover by Marlon Wayans, who stars in the film as an aging quarterback, saying “If you want to transcend the game, you have to dig deep. Your mind, your body have to be in sync. Talent is how hard you’re willing to work. No days off. No sleep. We grind. You’re never good enough. You’re never good enough. That’s how great people think.”
But that’s when the trailer takes a turn.
The clip shows two players hitting each other head-to-head, with one falling backwards, and quickly the image becomes them of skeletons in uniform. “You have to ask yourself,” the voice continues before focusing on a shot of Wayans, “what are you willing to sacrifice?”
This is followed by a cut to the protagonist, played by Tyriq Withers, with some kind of monster behind him about to club him with a weapon.
We don’t see the result – but this being a Peele film, the horror is just beginning.
There are quick shots of Withers laid out on a table, a furry helmet with horns, some kind of scary, white-haired zombie-looking creature, someone taking a football from a JUGS machine to the face, and a needle to the arm.
“Then show me,” Wayans says.
The clip ends with Withers doing what can best be described as a yoga pose, standing at the tip of a pentagram with cheerleaders and a band behind him.
There’s a lot going on in the one-minute, 43-second clip – and we’re left waiting for more and wondering what exactly is going on here?
The promo is already racking up views as well as comments (and theories) on social media and YouTube.
We’d expect nothing less from Peele. We’ll also have to wait a few months to find out. HIM opens in theatres September 19. Just another reason to be excited for the upcoming football season to start.
