As a connoisseur of things that go bump in the night, Stephen King has long been a major influence in the realm of horror literature, with his complimentary blurbs often a major selling point for other novelists' books. These days, his praise is even more readily available on Twitter, where he's a dependable source for horror recommendations and more, across all forms of media. Fans will no doubt want to take note of his latest thumbs up, which was earned by Amazon Prime's new series THEM.
Before getting into the nitty gritty of what Them actually is – beyond an example of weird noun-verb conjugation – check out the high praise Stephen King rained down on the buzzy new horror project on Twitter:
Anyone who can say they legitimately scared Stephen King gets a gold star in my book, and there's no better proof than the King of Horror prominently displaying that admission on social media. Granted, he only watched the first episode of THEM at the time he took to Twitter, so it's unclear how he'll feel about the next nine episodes, but a great start is never a bad thing.
Created by Little Marvin and executive produced by Lena Waithe, Them is not a modern-day remake of that "giant ants" movie, although the '50s classic actually did come up lower in Stephen King's Twitter thread.
THEM is also not a spinoff of Jordan Peele's Us, though it shares some of the same headspace with the latter. (As well as a star in young actress Shahadi Wright Joseph.) The story, set in 1953, is about a Black family who takes an ill-fated trip across the country from North Carolina to Los Angeles. Settling in an all-white neighborhood, the Emory family and their new home are soon plagued by bigoted neighbors and destructive otherworldly forces that aim to destroy them. Definitely not family-friendly fare to watch with the youngins.
But for fans of HBO's standout hit Lovecraft Country, THEM might just be the next big genre streaming show. Despite earning such praise from Stephen King and others, though, THEM has also been targeted by quite a few critics out there for focusing so entirely on stereotypes of Black misery and racism. While many of the more negative critiques do shine lights on the actors, direction and other elements, the story itself seems to be the biggest issue amongst THEM's detractors. Perhaps King will have more to say about that particular issue after watching more episodes, or perhaps he'll double-down on the compliments.
No stranger to making appearances on the big and small screen himself, Stephen King has been a big source of TV recommendations in recent months, too. He is definitely a fan of M. Night Shyamalan's Servant on Apple TV+, and has also lauded the likes of USA's The Sinner (currently on Netflix and Apple TV+) and Peacock's Mr. Mercedes, which was adapted from King's Bill Hodges / Holly Gibney trilogy. What's more, he's also getting fans pumped for the impending debut of the drama Lisey's Story, which marks the first time the horror icon has been fully involved in adapting one of his novels for television.
For those who want to take Stephen King up on his suggestion, THEM is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, with all ten episodes ready for the bingeing.
