"HIM" The cult of sacrifice and victory

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"Theatre with real consequences." What does this phrase tell us about cinema? A performance where you leave everything on the stage, that temple? Effort, dedication, even blood? What are you willing to pay to achieve your desires?

When I saw Matrix (1999) by the Wachowski sisters (Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski), I had a feeling I had rarely felt before (in my experience) with a film, and that is that it represents a before and after in cinema. In this case, on the one hand, what resonated most was the visual aspect and the visual effects, such as bullet time, but also the innovation in the application of very profound philosophical and mystical ideas that became a benchmark that is still valid today. I have since noticed this effect with many other films that have set a trend or become avant-garde in certain areas due to their courage in doing new things or addressing topics that are not very visible or that no one had dared to touch before. It is very exciting when we come across a film like this that breaks away from repetitive formulas and presents new ideas.

The cinematic "bullet time" effect, popularized by the 1999 film The Matrix, creates the illusion of a frozen or slowed-down scene while the camera's point of view moves at normal speed. The result is a dynamic shot that shows a moment from all angles, such as the iconic scene where Neo dodges bullets. 

This is the case with HIM (2025), a film that, on the one hand, addresses social issues that are rarely discussed (covert discrimination) and, on the other, aspirational themes where your dreams are manipulated so that you sacrifice yourself for others. Your contribution to society, being an example, making others proud, a patronal, paternal, patriarchal figure, whether called a coach, trainer, guru or mentor.

Him is a 2025 American horror film directed by Justin Tipping , co-written by Skip Bronkie, Zack Akers, and Tipping, and produced by Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions. The film stars Marlon Wayans  , Tyriq Withers  , Julia Fox  , and Tim Heidecker . The plot follows the struggles of a promising young football player (Withers) who trains at the isolated compound of a nearly retired quarterback (Wayans).

Him2025

Sports! Theatre with real consequences! This is the first sentence that welcomes us to the film, announcing what appears to be just another football match (or any other sport), obviously an important one, a final, but one of those we have seen over the years and which excites fans so much that it even paralyses countries in some cases. But no, the story is actually welcoming us to some kind of mixture of horror and sports, one that we are not very accustomed to. 

Wanting to save one of the characters in one part of the film, you will most likely find yourself repeating a well-known phrase in your mind, "Get out," which a character deliberately and intentionally says in another part of the film as a nod to the original. Get Out 2017 is its natural relative, with a very similar style and tone. Its producer is Jordan Peele, and this does not go unnoticed when watching its scenes and story, having clearly avoided all the publicity that uses the producer as a promotional hook.

A few years ago, Jordan Peele  brought us several titles in which he used psychological horror as a means to make us reflect on different issues, putting the spotlight on flaws in our society that often go unnoticed, especially nowadays with the fast pace and excess of information that overwhelms us all the time. On top of all this, we end up witnessing a society full of serious problems such as emotional instability, substance abuse, suicide and violence, and worst of all, looking for solutions or rather culprits in the wrong places.

Tokenism is a way of diverting attention from underlying inequalities and what is really important, giving a false appearance of diversity and inclusion, without a real commitment to achieving equity or changing power structures.

Get Out is one of the best horror films of this millennium so far; innovative in its style, it made us reflect on how sometimes anti-racists can end up being more racist than racists themselves. Excuse the cacophony, but continuing on... Peele managed to show us how racists are not always those who openly demonstrate it (recently, Eddington, another great film, also talked a little about this), but rather those who appear to be progressives or defenders of rights and equality who exploit struggles, hiding an underlying racism and who can go to the extreme of making you believe not only that you are accepted, but also admired, when in reality all this is just a façade, a false inclusion. In short, this film was a call not to be convinced by these illusions. Him (2025) now also comes to wake us up, but from another kind of illusion, also making use of the sinister and supernatural, no longer talking about false anti-racism, but about the twists and turns behind high-performance sports and the business surrounding them, highlighting the similarities with a religious cult. 

Peele's inspiration or influence is undeniable, but this does not mean that the film does not have its own personality. The film is directed by Justin Tipping . This young director has only one previous film to his name, Kicks from 2016, but it bears a strong resemblance to Him (The Chosen One). Both films explore how the cost of achieving one's desires or goals can be much higher than one might initially think. 

“Kiks” talks about how success can have a dark side, a potentially high cost, and “Get Out” discusses exploitation masquerading as admiration (flattery).

False Meritocracy 

Black athletes are used as clear evidence of integration into society, but they are not treated the same as white athletes.

Isaiah White (the acclaimed athlete about to retire) says: "As a black quarterback, I have to be great to be considered good." This statement clearly exposes this type of racism. Extrapolating this to other situations, it is like when you claim as conclusive proof that "you are not racist because you have a black friend" or "you are not homophobic because you have a homosexual employee." Such statements, even if true, are not proof of anything.

Currently, 70% of NFL players are black, but team owners have always been white.

Slogans, catchphrases, harangues; they manipulate your brain, turning it into a machine with a single function; one that is far removed from reason or common sense

The film does not limit itself to exploring minority issues or racism, but also addresses social struggles, the obsession with economic success, status and the worship or cult of the body, youth, strength and physical beauty, and achieving this at any cost. The hammered-in idea (like the Saviours team logo) of sacrifice for the sake of personal improvement, the pursuit of perfection and maximum performance, resonates everywhere. One of the pinnacles of this cult is in the realm of professional sports. The rest of us mortals who have the privilege of going to a gym or have ever had access to one see how we are targeted by indoctrinating messages such as: "no pain, no gain", "no effort, no reward", "no sacrifice, no glory", "victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay the price". Social media is also full of false gurus and motivational speakers who flood our feeds with the solution to all our problems, using trite phrases like these or boasting about their early mornings, their routines, their formulas for success and their cold showers.

Phrases designed to sell you an ideal of perfection or beauty that motivates you to achieve a goal that appears to benefit you. Women are sold the ideal of health and beauty, while men are sold power and strength. In both cases, recognition, admiration, fame... but at the same time, we end up being instruments of an industry that promotes standards of beauty and perfection to achieve economic goals that move millions of dollars.

Religious context

In religious contexts, especially when referring to God, it is often capitalised (Him) as a sign of respect and reverence. Example: “They prayed to Him.”

Something that immediately catches the eye is the religious symbolism in each of the shots from an altar at the beginning dedicated to the sports idol Isaiah White, as if it were an altar to Jesus or the Virgin Mary with candles and crucifixes. Even presenting stadiums or playing fields as temples and, at the same time, places for rituals, confrontations between modern gladiators, places of prayer where thousands of fans fervently pray for their team to win and where their faith and passion sometimes get so out of control that it leads to violence and ends in terrifying tragedies. Here I will refer to some of this symbolism, but there is much more, and it is fun to discover it.

The young Cameron Cade, played by Tyriq Withers, aspires to belong to a professional league team called the Saviours (the team's name is no coincidence, clearly indicating the idea of the saviour or redeemer). He opens our eyes by showing us how players are turned into such admired figures that they sometimes end up becoming a kind of deity. 

Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans ) is the name of the quarterback who acts as a mentor to Cameron. In the Bible, Isaiah was one of the major Hebrew prophets, a statesman and advisor to kings in the Kingdom of Judah, whose ministry took place in the 8th century BC. The biblical book that bears his name attributes to him prophecies about God's judgement, the restoration of Israel and the coming of the Messiah.

Mentor and apprentice, the chosen ones

It is a recurring theme in the world of sport and business motivation, mentors who help you pursue and achieve success. This model, so replicated and famous these days of godfather and godson, has a very prominent example in recent cinema, no longer in sport but in the business and political world: Roy M. Cohn  and  Donald Trump , mentor and apprentice; this case is portrayed very well in the film "The Apprentice" (2024).

"Welcome to the church!" Isaiah says to Cameron as he enters the football pitch.

But this is not something new, and the film reminds us that the patriarchs in the Old Testament's Genesis already spoke of this, where there are those chosen by God who in turn give way to heirs of that legacy or blessing from God. At one point in the film, reference is also made to the role of women in the writings of the patriarchs, where women were limited to waiting for God's favour on their fertility in order to give children to these chosen ones.

Personality cult 

Athletes as unattainable, almost perfect messianic figures who make us lose our focus and common sense. A trap that Isaiah White himself fell into is believing that it is worth giving your life to benefit others who do not see you as a person, but only as a tool for a purpose, reminiscent of Jesus or the prophets or Abraham pretending to sacrifice Isaac. 

In recent years, we have witnessed a boom in so-called "body horror" stories, notably The Ugly Step-Sister, The Substance, and Smile 2, in which, in each case, the woman ends up as an object, exploited by society, institutions, or industry, which pushes her to the limit and reduces her humanity and value to apparent beauty and youth, almost as if that were her only value, or in the latter case, as fame, power, and the pressures of show business imply; how the media and fans, your whole life revolving around being a star, can literally drive you mad. It is very interesting how in this film 'HIM' it is no longer about women but about what happens when the instrumentalised person is a man and the contrasts or differences in being victims of another type of manipulation.

At times, it also brings to mind the atmosphere of Ari Aster's  Midsommar, with its eerie setting and characters who seem soulless or without free will, devoted to a satanic cult.

Women, due to their gender, have been victims of exploitation and manipulation, and other social groups, due to their economic vulnerability, have also been victims of these practices.

Those who live in difficult conditions of poverty or deprivation do not have many options and are forced to accept gruelling working hours, where productivity is prioritised and idealised as a sign of virtue and worthy of admiration. Sacrifice, atonement, payment for sins and cleansing of guilt somehow justify the abuse of capitalism.

The film not only questions cultural and social impositions, but also the sports subgenre itself, which most of the time worships sacrifice, success and victory.

The film is divided into a prologue that introduces us to the story and six chapters that seem to be taken from a personal improvement or motivation course, but which is really a journey that feels like the worst of nightmares. 

1. Fun 

2. Poise

3. Leadership 

4. Resilience 

5. Vision 

6. Sacrifice

We are constantly exposed to a superficial world that bombards us relentlessly with advertising, billboards, media, television, social networks and, yes, even cinema, promoting ideals of beauty and masculinity that are purely utilitarian, superficial and aesthetic. 

For all of the above reasons, this film has become one of my favourites and therefore deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

At one point in the film, Isaiah asks Cameron:  if you're starving to death in prison, which would you prefer? Food or freedom.

That line sums up the central dilemma of the film: which would you choose? Fame, power and financial success, or your family, your humanity and your time? 

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