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What is Him about?
Directed by Justin Tipping and produced by Jordan Peele, Him follows a rising football player whose meeting with his childhood hero turns mentorship into a source of unease. The film uses that relationship to explore the bodily costs of the sport, the pull of fame and the ways athletes can be treated as products. These are the movie’s concerns and the critic’s reading of them—not a documentary account of football institutions.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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HIM - Collector's Edition Blu-ray + Digital | $9.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Reminders of Him (Blu-ray + Digital) | $22.95 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
![Get Him to The Greek [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51SediL4wGL._SL160_.jpg)
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Get Him to The Greek [Blu-ray] | $13.11 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Let Him Go - Blu-ray + DVD + Digital | $10.36 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
![Why Him? [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51wuHZQ8HrL._SL160_.jpg)
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Why Him? [Blu-ray] | $16.12 | Buy on Amazon |
How does the film connect football and horror?
Training as a dehumanizing ritual
Pulliam-Moore reads the film’s combine-like training gauntlet as more than a test of athletic ability: it makes the player’s body seem subject to inspection, control and consumption. The review draws a historical parallel to chattel slavery. That is an interpretation of the film’s imagery, rather than a claim that a training combine is equivalent to slavery.
Football as faith and spectacle
The film also frames football as a kind of religion, with bodily sacrifice tied to a mythology of masculine greatness. In this reading, violence becomes part of the spectacle that makes an athlete famous. The tension is central to the movie’s critique: the player is celebrated as a hero even as his body is put at risk.
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- Runtime: 97 minutes
What works best in Him?
The clearest strength in Pulliam-Moore’s review is the staging of scrimmages. Kinetic action and X-ray views of collisions make impact feel immediate and bodily, giving the film’s argument about violence a vivid visual form. The relationship between the young player and his idol also gives the horror a personal entry point: the person he hopes to emulate becomes part of what unsettles him.
The cultural questions have force, too. The film brings racial inequality and the dehumanizing treatment of athletes into its football imagery, inviting viewers to consider how the sport’s promise of fame can coexist with the demands placed on players.
Rank #2
- Blu-ray
- Digital Copy
- Bonus Content
Where does the film fall short?
For Pulliam-Moore, the ideas and images do not fully come together. The movie is not consistently compelling as horror, and its final act moves quickly to explain twists that have made the story confusing. The result is a film whose visual impact can be sharper than its narrative clarity.
A separate TechBloat review likewise emphasizes body horror, pain, branding, masculinity and celebrity, while describing the execution as messy. That is another reviewer’s interpretation, not evidence about professional football itself.
Rank #3
- Deleted And Extended Scenes
- Alternate Intro: The Castle
- Alternate Ending: Riding Daphne
- Feature Commentary With Cast And Crew
- Full Music Videos And Concert Performances
Is Him worth watching?
It is most likely to land for viewers interested in horror that uses sports as a lens on power, masculinity and celebrity, and who can accept a story that does not neatly resolve its ideas. Those looking for a tightly plotted horror film may find the hurried explanations and uneven momentum frustrating. Pulliam-Moore summed up his judgment this way: “Him is not the next Get Out, but it’s also not the next War of the Worlds, which is to say it’s on the undercooked side of being just okay.”
Pulliam-Moore’s review reported that the film was in theaters when published on September 19, 2025; that does not establish its current theatrical status or showtimes.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- The disk has English audio.
Sources
- Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge review, September 19, 2025 (the reproduced review’s headline is “Him is a grueling and messy takedown of American football culture”).
- TechBloat Team, “Him review: a grueling and messy takedown of American football culture,” May 22, 2026.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
