For nearly a decade, Jordan Peele has been one of the premier voices in horror, directing a trio of well-received, ambitious films. In addition to those efforts, he’s used his clout to get other projects off the ground as a producer, including Candyman and Monkey Man. As fans wait for Peele’s fourth directorial outing to come to fruition, he continues to remain active producing new films. Last year saw the release of Him, a sports-themed horror movie that explores a young football star’s pursuit of greatness. While the concept had potential, Him unfortunately left a muted impact when it opened in theaters last fall. But now it’s finding a new life on streaming.
For the week of April 20th-26th, Him was the No. 7 movie on Netflix in the United States, finishing just behind the new creature feature Thrash. This was the first week Him placed in Netflix’s top 10.
Why Him Is a Streaming Hit on Netflix
Image Courtesy of Universal
Despite featuring some interesting ideas and a strong performance from Marlon Wayans (who plays a legendary quarterback mentoring up-and-coming football stars), Him earned largely negative reviews upon release. It has just a 31% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, and the audience score (a rotten 56%) isn’t much better. The underwhelming word of mouth seems to have played a role in the film’s box office performance. Him wasn’t much of a draw, bringing in $27.8 million worldwide against a budget of $27 million.
Ironically, that mixed reception could partially be why Him has proven to be successful on Netflix. In the streaming era, it’s become more and more common for poorly received films to become hits at home. It’s easier for people to take a chance on something when all they have to do is push play in the living room. For certain projects (such as an original movie like Him), negative reviews can dissuade audiences from heading to the theater. Seeing a 31% Rotten Tomatoes score, some viewers will determine the film isn’t worth the trip out and will just wait for it to arrive on streaming.
Him also benefited from being a recent addition to Netflix’s library. It premiered on the streamer on April 19th, giving it an edge over other titles that week. Frequently, fresh additions will score large viewership figures because subscribers are always browsing through the selections to see what’s new. It isn’t surprising to see Him take off a bit in the United States. Not only has horror remained a popular genre, the subject matter has widespread appeal to American viewers. The NFL has broadened its horizons globally, but football is first and foremost the most popular sport domestically. The NFL Draft took place on April 23rd, so fans might have been in the mood for a football movie afterwards.
Him didn’t become the next horror classic, but it does have a few things going for it. Even though the narrative wasn’t executed in the best way, the film sports an impressive sense of style and it has some compelling performances at its center. Those aspects make it worth watching once, particularly at home on streaming. In some ways, an admirable misfire makes for a more fascinating experience than a standard, run-of-the-mill Netflix original because it can be interesting to see what the filmmakers were going for and why it ultimately fell short of its aspirations. Him isn’t a total dud, but it isn’t unanimously acclaimed either, which makes it perfect for streaming.
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