HIM (2025) viewing, a film by Justin Tipping (Beware: SPOILERS AHEAD)

Kai Lebron

November 1st—As with every Monkey Paw production, my first reaction was pure confusion and disorientation that ended with me having to say, “What did I just watch?” and “What am I watching?” But this movie wasn’t just the regular confusion like it would be with other horror-mystery films; this was a deep-seeded anxiety. It didn’t feel like I was just watching a movie, but I felt like I was in it emotionally. It’s a visceral and interesting experience you wouldn’t normally see in movies nowadays—this is something I praise Monkeypaws Studios for often—as it teaches a person about the cost of greatness and the death of the self. 

The story follows Cameron Cade (Played by Tyriq Withers), a quarterback whose entire identity was forged at a young age with the brutal mantra that sticks with the entire movie, “No Guts, No Glory.” He witnesses his hero, Isaiah White (Played by Marlon Wayans) who sacrifices his body for a game changing win, and from that moment, Cam’s purpose is clear, to be the next GOAT— Greatest Of All Time—just like his father, and in turn his favorite player Isaiah White who won 8 rings, becoming the undisputed champion of the league. 

Years have passed and Cam becomes somewhat a ‘talk of the town,’ as the upcoming greatest who will replace Isaiah’s legacy after he retires, until he gets hit over the head. by a man in a bug costume—I’m still not sure what this represents. This injury cracks his skull and causes his brain to swell, resulting in a career ending injury if you would, when he gets patched up his wound is stapled in a way that looks like the laces of a football. 

When his agent calls him while he’s at a party, it’s to let him know that he can go and train under a man named Isaiah. Without question, he accepts this opportunity. What the viewers don’t know is that this training compound isn’t all sunshine and rainbows; this is a psychological and physical meat grinder. The "training" accelerates from drills to something darker, bloodier, and more cult-like. It’s a chilling exploration of what happens when "no guts, no glory" is taken to its literal, horrifying extreme.

After watching the movie there were so many specific scenes that just stuck out to me and I wish I could name all of them. Each of the scenes feel like a masterclass in building that pervasive sense of wrongness that just sticks with you long after the movie is over, making you think over and over again. 

There are four scenes in particular that I will touch on, each with their own differing sense of ‘wrongness’ and impacts. 

The scene where Cam spaces out as his family and team argue over his future is pure, cinematic anxiety. The overlapping voices, the relentless phone notifications, it’s a sensory assault that feels like you are a part of it as each noise gets louder and louder with seemingly no end, just to abruptly cut off when the barber is fixing up his hair and accidentally cuts him. Cam’s wound causes him to yell and it’s like a physical jolt, not just for him, but for us when the abruptness of it all suddenly stops.

Another scene is in the bathroom when Cam gets the call, where he sits in a black tub surrounded by mirrors. There has always been a direct connection of multiple mirrors that links with a person's psyche and for me, when I interpreted this scene, it was like Camreon was literally and figuratively surrounded by reflections of himself, talking to the person who represents his "old life" leading to his “new life.”

The ice bath scene was a turning point, the beginning and the end if you would. Seeing Isaiah get a blood transfusion was disturbing enough, but the instructor’s monologue about Roman gladiators solidified the theme. He said, “You know in ancient Rome, gladiators swore an oath to their trainers to avoid being burnt, beaten, killed with a sword; it’s funny inn’it...that primal urge. American football is just the newer iteration.” This was indirectly telling us that this was bigger than football. The injection with the ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ sticker was a moment of dark, absurd humor that I had no choice but to laugh at because of the absurdity of it all. The instructor leaves that room and Cameron says, "Many religions would consider his blood holy." This is a chilling scene just for the many undertones that he was saying that we wouldn’t understand until the end. 

The instructor appears as though he is Apollo’s prophet, telling the person everything they need to know in riddles and clues that you wouldn't understand until it’s too late. 

The last scene that really stuck out to me was the moment Cam and the other player collided, and the screen switched to an X-ray view. This felt like one of the most powerful visuals that I personally have ever seen. We were quite literally seeing not humans, but the very skeletons of these people smashing their heads together—as if they were rams—and seeing the shattering of a skull and the red pulsing of their brain swelling from the impact. This was a direct parallel to what the instructor had told Cameron moments prior to this moment, that human skulls were never meant to hit against each other. This X-ray vision with the black blood on the field only leaves once Cameron realizes the harm that he caused to another person. My personal thoughts during this scene were, "Doesn't your head hurt? You literally cracked your skull open 2-3 days ago, and even with the injection, doesn't it hurt?”

The movie drills a few core questions into you, such as if sacrifice is non-negotiable, but that’s not all it asks. It also asks what are you sacrificing? Is it your body? Your relationships? Your soul? Isaiah’s quote, "As a black quarterback I had to be great just to be good. Imagine what I had to do to be the greatest of all time," frames this as a brutal necessity, not a choice. Isaiah goes on to tell Cameron in a different scene where he’s forcing him to “man up” that “game rewards violence” and “you aint’ nothing but an emotional pretty boy, chasing validation from strangers cause your father didn’t love you. This ain' t a game, this is everything; you are not your father. Does Cameron Cade…want this?” 

Cameron doesn't hesitate to answer with, “Yes I want this!” 

Isaiah responds with, “Then what are you willing to sacrifice?!” 

“Everything!” Cameron yells.

This scene not just drives home the point of sacrifice, but it’s bloody and cruel. If you want to be the greatest of your craft, sacrifice is inevitable but…what are you willing to lose?

After that “training,” Cameron Cade wasn’t the same guy he was before. He was systematically broken down and rebuilt in Isaiah's image. Which is ironic when Isaiah himself says, “Find your own way to greatness, don’t be me. Be better.” 

But I also think this sentence is what led Cameron to stay who he was at the very end. 

We all hear about how actors, players, musicians and others who have become the best at their craft have “sold their soul." There are parties that steal the life from you and you never return the same. That’s what Day 5-Vision is; the point of no return. 

Was Cameron Cade willing to kill himself to become... Him?

The movie strips away the glamour of the NFL and even celebrities in general, to reveal the raw, violent spectacle underneath. The instructor describes it beautifully as, "When two men enter the colosseum only one leaves." 

Despite the overwhelming tension and anxiety this movie gives, there are these jarring, hilarious moments that I can’t help but laugh at. It’s not even really that funny, but when it’s put out there, the situation and how these athletes were before just made the scene so…out of the blue, which wasn’t a bad thing. 

In the ending scene of the examination, the instructor guy says, “I’ll say, put some clothes on. I thought you were just gonna go down to your underwear, it’s been very awkward for me,” was something I personally found very funny because they didn’t say anything to him about getting fully nude or not. As Isaiah chimes in saying, “Yeah it’s very weird, get dressed please,” as he stands directly in front of him. 

The instructor and Isaiah leave and Cameron looks around like, “Oh dang, I wasn't?” The scene ends fully with him saying “Hey, has anyone got eyes on my draws?” It wasn’t even that funny, but I found myself having to pause and just laugh at the absurdity. It was so bizarre and a tonal whiplash. 

The movie lulls you into a state of high anxiety and then punctures it with absurdity, making the whole experience even more disorienting and memorable. There was also the small moment of Isaiah’s wife talking with Cameron saying, “Transitions of power are never peaceful, it’s like more money more problems right? Who said that Biggy? I don't know anyway.” 

It’s so out of nowhere and I'm sitting in my chair having to just shake my head as I try to stop myself from laughing at the absurdity of it all. 

“Him” is a mentally demanding film. The close-ups, the direct-to-camera stares from Cam’s piercing blue eyes, the aggressive sound design; it all makes it feel like it’s happening to you. The six-day structure perfectly charts the descent: from the "fun" of arrival to the final, bloody "sacrifice."

There are so many amazing and thought provoking lines from Isaiah and the Instructor that ties perfectly to the ending of it all. It’s where everything starts making sense, on why Isaiah says, “It takes blood to heal a king.” That blood is special and to become the greatest Cameron was being injected with this blood. Or when the instructor says, “When you're a god, there is no peace,” symbolizes what he was doing made him feel like he was on top of the world, as if he were a god. But you can’t have all this power without having peace at the same time. You have to maintain this power, your place in society and if you don’t your pushed off to the sidelands having to as Isaiah puts it, “Surviving the death of who you used to be.” 

In the end though, even with all this messed up stuff happening around him and all the grooming he’s gone through to be who they wanted him to be, he didn’t sell his soul to be the best because he’s never believed in hands out. Instead, he believed in hard work and getting it yourself. He was going to be handed everything and he still chose to throw it all away and remove the NFL staff out of the equation, covering himself in their blood as he walks out a winner in his own way. 

Many have said the movie fell off in the second half, and a part of me wants to agree, but at the same time I don’t. I think everything played out exactly how it should have and it was all wrapped up in the end. 

I honestly give this movie a good 7/10. It’s not perfect, but it’s really good and for me, personally, this movie has made it to the number two spot of my favorite horror/mystery movies (Get Out is a masterpiece I don’t care what no one says, that’s my number one). I recommend watching the movie though, I do hope you watched it before reading this due to extreme spoilers, but even if you haven't that’s fine. Even knowing certain stuff that’s happened doesn't take away from how the movie can make you feel, and to me, that’s all that matters.