SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for HIM. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!
“Go big or go home” is a common expression among athletes, and it’s appropriately applied to the finale of director Justin Tipping’s new film HIM as well. The whole movie is rather insane – as brain-damaged quarterback Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers) spends a nightmarish week with his idol Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) in a training compound trying to prove he has what it takes to become the Greatest Of All Time – but that insanity most definitely peaks in the third act. Cameron comes to a full understanding of what’s really at stake in the whole business, and his response to it all is rather… over the top.
As any normal audience member would, I watched HIM’s ending with wide eyes and a slacked jaw when I saw it earlier this month, and it left me impressed to the point that I felt compelled to ask the stars of the film about it when I spoke with them during the recent Los Angeles press day. Tyriq Wither spoke about the surprising conditions and the work that went in, and Julia Fox, who plays Isaiah’s wife Elsie, divulged her thoughts about her character’s personal motivations. But before we dig into that material, let’s first do a recap of what happens in the new horror movie’s final scene.
What Happens At The End Of HIM
At the end of HIM, Cameron Cade finally starts getting answers to many, many questions – and some are answers to questions he didn’t even know to ask. After a week of training with Isaiah, he discovers that becoming the greatest of all time isn’t something that is earned, but rather it is bestowed. He is part of a very specific and designed plot to succeed the man he has long idolized as the quarterback for the San Antonio Saviors, and the first hurdle is battling and killing Isaiah – beating him to death with a helmet.
This act is followed by a blood-covered Cameron walking outside and finding himself attending a daylight ceremony that is attended by Tom (Tim Heidecker), his agent, Elsie White, and the masked ownership of the San Antonio Saviors – not to mention a bunch of creepy, faceless cheerleaders. Our protagonist comes to understand not only that his father had a deal with the owner of the Saviors to raise his son as a star QB, but that the attack that left him brain damaged was orchestrated so that no other team in the league would draft him. The response to this is unhinged and exceptionally gory violence, as Cameron proceeds to slaughter everybody, with the coup de grâce being Tom getting into the middle of a pentagram and exploding as jets fly overhead.
They say “no guts, no glory” – and there are definitely a whole lot of guts.
Tyriq Withers Discusses His Experience Filming That Bonkers Final Scene
As captured in the video at the top of this article, I used the last question in my recent interview with Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans to ask the former what it was like shooting that crazy scene. He explained that a lot went into it, but he noted that the complexity of it all also gave him the ability to become hyper-focused – which ultimately works for his performance, as one can see pure drive in Cameron Cade’s eyes on screen as he executes a swath of people who have successfully manipulated his entire life.
As Withers explained, however, one fun bit of trivia about the HIM ending scene concerns the weather on the day. Cameron is shirtless during the sequence, and the general desert environment of the movie sells all of the action happening in heat – but it might surprise you to learn that it was actually a bit chilly out. Said the actor,
As for Marlon Wayans sitting beside him, he was unable to resist making a joke at his co-star’s expense:
I suppose that’s something that Tyriq Withers can now put on his resume? Maybe under “Special Skills”?
Why Julia Fox Doesn’t Think You Should Judge Elsie Too Much For Her Choices
One of the more surprising players at the end of HIM is Elsie White. Throughout the film, she comes across as one of the nicer, more normal people whom Cameron encounters during his week of training with Isaiah (her use of jade eggs in her vagina notwithstanding), but she shows off some very different colors in the final scene. Despite the fact that her husband has just died, her priority is finishing the larger mission and getting the star quarterback to sign on the dotted line to play for the San Antonio Saviors.
Curious about this revelation, I asked about Elsie’s true face when I spoke with Julia Fox during the HIM press day, and she offered justification for why the character makes the decisions that she ultimately makes. She explained that there was a full backstory for Elsie White that we don’t learn about on screen, and it’s a history that led her to look out for herself while knowing that nobody else would:
You might call that selfish, but Julia Fox more sees Elsie as someone who is operating in pure survival mode. She continued,
Julia Fox has justifications for the role that Elsie plays in the manipulation of professional football… but that justification is certainly not registered by Cameron, as she winds up just as dead as everybody else in the finale of HIM.