Review of They Look Like People (2016) by Jesse O — 29 May 2016

Blackshear creates moments of unbearable tension throughout the film. TLLP dances around the question as to the reality of what Wyatt is experiencing versus whether he suffers from mental illness. There are moments he gives himself most over to his paranoia that keep you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what he might do and whether he might harm someone. The horror of the film comes from these small, inescapable moments where Wyatt points a loaded nail gun at passerby from the apartment rooftop. Andrews does a remarkable job selling the dual nature of his terror. He is every bit as concerned that he might be wrong, that all of these voices live inside a broken and unrepairable mind, as he is right about the invaders. You don't usually see possible mental illness handled with this nuance in a film, where the norm is to portray the character as unaware at the possibility of his fractured mind.

They Look Like People takes a simple premise that has been done to death and puts a unique, personal spin on the concept. It shares DNA with "body snatcher" horror, but the world has been stripped down to the inside of a small apartment and its inhabitants consist of two close friends. It's a quiet and moving work of psychological horror, and one that deserves to be seen by a massive audience.