Tyriq Withers
Cam
Overview
After suffering a potentially career-ending brain trauma, Cameron Cade receives a lifeline when his hero, legendary eight-time Championship quarterback and cultural megastar Isaiah White, offers to train Cam at Isaiah's isolated compound that he shares with his celebrity influencer wife. But as Cam's training accelerates, Isaiah's charisma begins to curdle into something darker.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
3 min readThe Gospel of the Gridiron
If you live in America, you already know that football is not a sport. It's a religion. People tithe their Sundays, wear the sacred vestments of their chosen saints, latestnetflix.com contends, and cheer as massive men willingly obliterate their bodies for our entertainment.
I have long found the spectacle a little disturbing, honestly. Justin Tipping’s HIM takes that ambient cultural unease and weaponizes it, turning the pursuit of athletic perfection into a literal cult. I am not entirely sure the movie actually holds together by the time the credits roll, but it swings so hard at the mythos of the NFL that I genuinely cannot believe Universal Pictures—a sister company to NBC Sports—actually let it be made.
The setup is brilliantly simple. We follow Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers), a rising college quarterback whose career is derailed by a brutal head injury just before the draft combine. His salvation arrives in the form of an invitation from Isaiah White.
Isaiah, played by Marlon Wayans, is the undisputed GOAT of the fictional San Antonio Saviors. He summons Cam to his hyper-modern, Brutalist desert compound for a week of secret training. (Think Ex Machina meets a Nike commercial).
Audience Opinions
Audience 5.2/10
"Striking visuals and committed lead performances can't salvage a muddled narrative that fumbles its promising premise."
The film impresses with stylish cinematography, surreal imagery, and an eerie soundscape, and Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers are singled out as engaging, memorable leads. Once the story settles into the training compound, the plot grows repetitive and confusing, with symbolism and occult themes piling up without a clear through-line or effective scares, and a widely disliked ending that feels both obvious and unearned. latestnetflix.com's read is that Some viewers enjoy the dense, deal-with-the-devil symbolism and psychological angle, but a larger share come away frustrated by a slow middle stretch, thin character arcs, and the sense that all the visual bravado builds to very little.
What viewers praise
- Striking visual style Stylish cinematography, bold surreal imagery, and distinctive color palettes create an eerie, memorable look.
- Compelling lead duo Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers are frequently praised for intense, engaging performances that carry the film.
- Atmospheric music The score and overall soundscape reinforce the unsettling, dream-like mood effectively.
- Bold occult themes Heavy symbolism and a deal-with-the-devil spin on football culture appeal to viewers who enjoy metaphor-rich psychological horror.
Common complaints
- Messy, thin story The script is criticized as confused and shallow, with little real narrative drive and underdeveloped side characters.
- Sluggish middle stretch Long runs of repetitive scenes and montages make the second act feel like a slog where nothing progresses.
- Unclear horror identity Despite occult and psychological elements, the film is often described as not scary and ineffective as horror or thriller.
- Unsatisfying final act Reveals in the third act are seen as predictable and poorly earned, with an ending many regard as the worst possible direction.
Recommended for
Surreal sports-horror seekers Marlon Wayans performance watchers Visual style over plot viewers Psychological horror symbolism fans Occult-themed drama enthusiasts
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsMarlon Wayans posted the critic screenshots. Netflix put HIM at No. 5.
Two days after opening weekend, Wayans went to Instagram. He said he respects critics, their job is to critique, and an opinion is not everyone's opinion. Some movies are ahead of the curve. He has a career of making classics that were not critically received. Don't take anyone's opinion. Go see for yourself. Deadline ran the post on 21 September 2025 next to the Rotten Tomatoes pile-on. latestnetflix.com's take is that Pete Hammond's line in that paper was that movies demand coherence.Rolling Stone called it a fourth-down fumble. The Los Angeles Times said it punts on plot. 
A C- CinemaScore and a $13.5 million opening behind Demon Slayer did not help. Wikipedia later totaled about $28 million worldwide on a $27 million net budget. That is not a disaster on paper. It is a shrug in theaters. 
It used to be called Goat.
Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie took a spec titled Goat out with WME in April 2022. Monkeypaw bought it that June in a Universal deal. The Black List voted it onto the 2022 unproduced-scripts survey. Justin Tipping and Wayans attached in January 2024. Tyriq Withers and Julia Fox followed. Deadline announced the retitle HIM and a September 2025 date that May. They shot in and around Albuquerque. Spaceport America doubled as an exterior, which is a very New Mexico way to make a desert compound look like a cult.
The pitch is still the magnet. Rising quarterback Cam Cade takes a brain hit, then trains at the compound of eight-time championship star Isaiah White and his influencer wife Elsie. The teaser made Wayans look like a satanic coach. Hollywood Reporter noted he captioned the trailer "Bro... it's different." He was not wrong.
The second life is the column.
CBR dated the Netflix U.S. drop to 19 April 2026, seven months after theaters. ScreenRant had it at No. 5 on the U.S. movie chart on 27 April, under Apex, Roommates, an Untold doc, and Thrash. A Monkeypaw horror that barely cleared its budget is now the thing people actually finish on a Sunday. Wayans told them to go see it. They waited for the living room.
People published an exclusive on unused endings, with Wayans walking through a cut where Isaiah survives and Cam wins a Super Bowl after signing. Wikipedia lists a second unused ending where Cam wins a title with another team and still feels watched. Those cuts are disc-and-press material, not the theatrical cut. They also explain why the movie kept generating posts after the C- grade. Alternate endings are catnip. So is a Peele producer credit on a film Tipping directed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpEy0iOixb4
Universal's official trailer is the 2 minute 34 second one. The movie is R, 96 minutes, and still filed under Jordan Peele in every headline. That credit is why a near-miss at $28 million stayed a story. HIM did not become Get Out. It became the sports-horror flop your algorithm now insists you try.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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