An excerpt from my script review for Him (aka The Goat) which will be available 09/29/25:
2.) Plot Stability
I thoroughly enjoyed this script.
Benny is entering Connor’s world, and he feels like he’s by himself, but with every odd phrase or out of place situation we’re looking right over his shoulder wondering what the fuck is going on.
As the title to this review suggests, there were multiple places I wrote a simple note of “WTF?!” because I was just as startled as Benny, not comprehending why the fuck a weekend at Connor’s is so batshit crazy.
Later, I started writing “in a good way” because this story works, and the writers did their jobs presenting the horror in a psychological manner that keeps us reading.
And that’s really the point of this section…a confused reader isn’t necessarily a bad thing if they’re an engaged reader, and I was engaged here.
Examples of what worked…
Connor’s compound.
Benny agrees to train with Connor for five days, and is flown to Connor’s private estate outside of Las Vegas. It’s huge, with a labyrinth of hallways and no doors to any of the rooms.
It’s overwhelming and confusing.
Day 1.
Upon arrival Benny jumps right into training with Connor, who doesn’t train like a forty something year old athlete. He pushes Benny, a bit too hard at times, but they’re competing for the starting QB spot, so his motivation makes sense.
That night though…Benny awakes to someone screaming, and a dead sheep outside his window. When he tries to find Connor, he swears he sees a shadowy figure which Connor later dismisses to Benny’s mild concussion from earlier that day.
Was it though? Benny isn’t sure, and neither are we which is good because the “horror” elements can initially be explained away.
(But it’s a horror story, so of course there won’t be explanations later.)
And this was only Day 1 remember…of 5.
Rest of the Week.
I won’t go into spoilers, because this is something to be experienced both on screen and then reading the initial script, but things certainly escalate.
The main unsettling thread to this story is people who work for Connor know something isn’t right, and warn Benny to save himself.
This plays on Benny (and us) because no one ever gets the chance to explain themselves entirely, which is pitched as Connor being paranoid and having cameras/microphones everywhere and loyal lackeys who always interrupt.
Lastly, and where we know something truly is amiss is when Benny seriously injures Connor during a fight, but Connor appears later that day miraculously healed.
We stuck around craving this type of payoff, and you have us hooked because now we want to know how Connor did it.
This is a like an exciting magic act except the magician hangs around at the end to show you how the trick is done.
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