The Black horror genre is alive and thriving, set to grow with yet another exciting (and terrifying) new addition to the collection of stories that will haunt you for days to come. Get ready for Them.
In the new Amazon Prime original series, created by Little Marvin, a Black family from North Carolina hastily relocates in 1950s Los Angeles during the Second Great Migration. Thinking that they've found their forever home in the safe, idyllic suburban neighbourhood, the Emory family focuses on assimilating to their new surroundings, but there's a dark force at work all around them: racism. They're the only Black people in their new neighbourhood, and their neighbours are less than pleased to have them.
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"This how it begins," says one especially racist ringleader (played by Milk's Alison Pill). "It starts with one family. They came from some place worse, so we'll have to make this place worse."
Cue the cold stares, bullying, and literal burning houses.
However, racism isn't the only thing haunting the Emorys. Anti-Blackness itself is terrifying, but there's an even scarier presence to reckon with inside of their home. The family is forced to deal with a ghastly supernatural force that seems dead set on bringing real harm to them, and what follows is a nightmare of epic proportions, toeing the line between historical fact and fiction.
Like many of the Black horror projects before it — think Get Out, Lovecraft Country, Bad Hair, Antebellum, and Candyman — the Amazon series will highlight the monstrous nature of racism and anti-Blackness by positioning it parallel to other paranormal and spooky phenomenon. Them is the dark brainchild of writer and producer Little Marvin, and his cast is comprised of a host of new faces. Newbies Ashley Thomas and Deborah Ayorinde star as Henry and Lucky Emory, and Shahadi Wright Joseph (Jordan Peele's Us) plays their daughter alongside child actress Melody Hurd. Marvin will also serve as its executive producer, joined by Lena Waithe (Twenties, Queen & Slim), Miri Yoon and Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment, David Matthews, and Don Kurt.
It's history. It's horror. It's Them, available for streaming only on Amazon Prime starting April 9, 2021.
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