It’s a disappointment on more than one level that They/Them isn't fully able to live up to all it has going for it. A film produced by Blumhouse and written and directed by John Logan (who has written multiple hits like Gladiator, The Aviator, Sweeney Todd, Hugo, Skyfall, and Penny Dreadful to name a few) is a strong enough sell on its own, but it also boasts an inspired concept and a talented cast as well. What exactly went wrong here?

They/Them is a modern day slasher that takes place at Whistler Camp, a conversion summer camp led by husband and wife duo Owen (Kevin Bacon) and Cora (Carrie Preston). While initially appearing as friendly, inviting and nonjudgmental rather than the fire and brimstone one might expect, there is an obvious menace beneath its cheery facade - and behind the couple’s winning smiles.

The latest group of campers, most of whom have been forced there by their parents, are made up of Jordan (Theo Germaine), Alexandra (Quei Tann), Toby (Austin Crute), Kim (Anna Lore), Veronica (Monique Kim), Stu (Cooper Koch), and Gabriel (Darwin del Fabro). The inclusive LGBTQ cast, coupled with the film’s premise and subject matter, makes for a strong statement and a bit of a notable milestone for the crowd-pleasing slasher genre that goes beyond mere representation. It’s almost a reclamation of sorts in a genre with a checkered history when it comes to LGBTQ issues and characterizations.

Owen welcomes everyone to camp as they arrive, assuring them that it’s a safe place without religious indoctrination or forceful conversion. Of course, Owen also has to tell the group that God loves them (“and that’s the one and only time you’ll hear me mention the man upstairs!”) and immediately proceeds to confiscate all of their phones, computers, and even personal medicine. The campers are also separated by boys and girls, which is a problem for someone like Jordan who is non-binary and goes by the pronouns they/them. After an initial power struggle, Jordan is begrudgingly sent to the boys’ cabin. “Thanks for understanding.” Owen tells them with venomous irony.

From here, abuses big and small plague the already emotionally-volatile group of teens as their week at Whistler Camp goes by. Logan’s film wisely puts the barbaric practices of conversion therapies and the institutions that enforce them in an appropriate horror context. Violations of privacy, condescending and hateful language, forced gender roles and activities, and general disrespect befall the campers as Owen and company attempt to break them down in increasingly upsetting ways, all while still keeping up the mask of friendliness and acceptance as long as they can.

At the same time, They/Them also dedicates scenes to portrayals of queer joy and triumph for its characters in order to better balance out the bleaker material. A notable strength of the film is how it manages to flesh out its multiple characters into people of their own, with all of their complexities, rather than stock archetypes or slasher fodder. Even two minor characters, former campers turned counselors Sarah (Hayley Griffith) and Zane (Boone Platt), receive one of the film’s more poignantly disturbing takes on the effects of those who have gone through these kinds of camps and been “cured”.

But where even is the slasher part of this supposed slasher movie? That therein lies one of the glaring issues with Logan’s summer camp horror flick; it’s severely lacking in genuine scares and seemingly forgets the serial killer element of its plot almost entirely. There’s a reason I haven’t mentioned it thus far, as the movie itself treats it as an afterthought until the last moment. They/Them opens with a solid enough sequence of a masked axe murderer claiming their first victim, but the scene is given no context and the killer doesn’t reappear until the film’s jumbled finale. It’s as if it suddenly remembers in the third act that there’s supposed to be some killing going on, leading to things happening almost too quickly and whatever impact the deaths might’ve held being lost in the rush.

The clear purpose here is to accurately portray the disturbing methods of conversion therapy and camps as just as horrifying if not worse than the grisly sort of massacres that slasher movie villains partake in. It’s a strong idea, and to its credit, the film’s most effectively upsetting moments are at the hands of the counselors rather than the masked killer on the loose. But then again, we don’t get to see much of that killer in action at all and thus don’t have those traditional sort of terrors to compare to film’s more specific LGBTQ ones. There’s only one early scene set in the camp’s showers that employs the visual language of slashers in a new and effective context, but for the most part, both the slasher aspect and aesthetic of They/Them feels like a tacked on marketing ploy more than anything else.

Ironically and unfortunately, They/Them itself seems to be one suffering from an identity crisis. The film’s tone is all over the place and never meshes together in a cohesive way. By the time the teens break out into a rebellious and affirmative song and dance set to, er, P!nk’s “Fuckin’ Perfect”, it’s hard to say what exactly the film is going for. Is this a harrowing drama? An uplifting and inclusive young adult tale of acceptance? A horror movie? There are many inspired ideas scattered throughout They/Them, and its heart appears to be in the right place, but by the time it reaches its lackluster and somewhat troublesome ending, it fails to say much of anything at all.

‘They/Them’ is now streaming on Peacock.