They Look Like People (2015) Review – A Masterclass In Indie Psychological Horror

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are going to be looking at Perry Blackshear’s psychological horror movie They Look Like People.

One of the greatest indie mental illness themed horror movies?

This is a movie that I loved from the very first time I watched it back in 2016. They Look Like People features, potentially, the most sympathetic portrayal of mental illness I have seen in a horror film. That is quite the achievement given the subject matter and how difficult it can be to actually reference the subject with tact.

They Look Like People is a slow-burn horror following the story of a man who believes that the world is days away from being attacked by malevolent creatures. After receiving communications from unknown people warning him of impending doom and monsters hiding in plain sight disguised as people.

Wyatt (MacLeod Andrews) heads to New York to save his best friend, Christian (Evan Dumouchel), from the attack. But can Wyatt trust Christian or have the creatures got to him first?

Slow and unsettling

They Look Like People is not the type of movie that will bowl you over with action. It doesn’t have a tremendous amount in the way of scares and even its story is rather thin on the ground. Instead, it wants to get inside your head and it does that by acting as a haunting character study of two people in very different, yet strangely similar, places in life.

“They Look Like People wants to get inside your head by acting as a haunting character study of two people in very different, yet strangely similar, places in life.”

The story of two friends meeting up for the first time in years is an endearing one that many should be able to relate to. Christian has been down on his luck, in the recent past, but has managed to build himself back up. He now has a satisfying job and is hoping to develop a relationship with his boss Mara (Margaret Ying Drake).

Wyatt, on the other hand, is something of a mystery. He claims to have started a new job but has randomly showed up in New York with little explanation. We have some hint of a potential history of mental illness but little in the way of exposition.

For much of the first third of the movie, this is a story about two friends reconnecting. It isn’t until Wyatt begins receiving phone calls from a mystery person, apparently warning him about creatures roaming the earth, disguised as regular people, that the movie begins to feel like a horror.

A deeper meaning

They Look Like People presents itself as a horror movie but there is something of a deeper meaning to it. At its core, this is a story about psychosis and delusions. They Look Like People handles the topic of mental illness better than the majority of horror movies that I have seen. I am not sure that horror is the right place to discuss sensitive topics like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar psychosis-based illnesses. As a sufferer of bipolar disorder, it is a subject that can easily cause frustration. Some movies just don’t handle these topics with enough care.

When the subject is handled with care, however, it can be both sympathetic and incredibly effective. Saint Maud is a great example of this and so is They Look Like People. Blackshear takes what is a legitimately difficult topic to present and does so with respect and consideration. The characters here both have a history with mental illness and yet Blackshear goes out of his way to present the people rather than the illness.

While some may fail to understand the meaning of the events of the movie, this is an extremely effective depiction of the delusions that come with psychosis-based disorders and the auditory and visual hallucinations so common with schizophrenia and schizo-affective disorder. When you consider this with regards to what takes place in They Look Like People, it makes the characters all the more sympathetic and the ending all the more poignant.

“They Look Like People wants to get inside your head by acting as a haunting character study of two people in very different, yet strangely similar, places in life.”

It’s worth keeping in mind that this movie leans away from all-out horror. While some of the scenes can be contextually disturbing, they aren’t scary. This is almost a horror-adjacent drama. Especially when viewed as a story of mental illness. That revelation recontexualises everything you see making it less cosmic and more visceral. Still, there is enough here to keep genre fans happy. The phone calls are particularly unsettling.

Fantastic acting

MacLeod Andrews and Evan Dumouchel take centre stage here and both do a fantastic job. Andrews is likable and sympathetic while also managing to really get across the severity of the situation. His subtle facial expressions hint at the turmoil in his mind and when he is tasked with turning the emotion up, he does a really nice job.

Dumouchel is similarly great as Christian. He is in a very different position from Wyatt and is mostly asked to respond to the strange behaviour of his friend which he does a great job at. He also has a number of touching moments that show he is a conflicted and troubled person himself.

The chemistry between the pair is very evident and makes them all the more believable as friends. Their chats are often comedic and bring a lot of levity to what is, otherwise, a rather depressing situation. Margaret Drake, as Mara, is equally great and serves as a strong female counterweight to the two male leads. 

Decent direction

They Look Like People‘s 2.35:1 aspect ratio looks gorgeous and is suitably fitting for the movie. It has an almost dreamy, and surreal, indie movie feel and simply looks great shot after shot. There’s some nice use of perspective while close-up character shots capture every single emotion, and reaction, in keen detail.

“It is captivating, unsettling, and actually quite scary in parts. There aren’t many films more effective than They Look Like People.”

The camerawork can get a little antsy. Some shots switch frequently between characters when you feel it should probably just find a spot and stick to it. It’s nothing majorly noticeable, though. It just feels a bit anxious at times. The director abandons shots that he probably should have lingered on a bit longer.

Sound production is fantastic in parts and poor in others. There was far too much hiss in certain parts. The use of whispering is a real point of annoyance for me, too. Drake’s voice, in particular, is so difficult to understand when whispering that it really exposed the poor mic setup and lacklustre mixing. It does stand out for the positive during some of the more horror-related scenes, though.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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