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Them, Behind the Door
Movie

Them, Behind the Door

2024 • Unknown

Woke Score
3
out of 10

Plot

The story centers on CHEN Wei and her daughter, seeking refuge from CHEN Wei’s violent husband in the Butterfly Mansion, known for its eerie reputation as a suicide hotspot. Strange events unfold, and warnings from Uncle LIANG, the building’s janitor, and Uncle Shan, the temple caretaker who lives on the top floor, about the unsafe floor are ignored due to financial constraints. Neighbors like Ah Di, who sees spirits, and the forbidden Room No. 613, intensify CHEN’s unease. Substitute manager Xiao Liang cares for CHEN, with her daughter showing joy in his visits. As the Chinese ghost month progresses, supernatural events escalate, revealing a crisis beyond CHEN Wei’s initial struggles.

Overall Series Review

The film focuses on CHEN Wei, a mother escaping her violent, gambling-addicted partner by moving into a haunted apartment complex with her daughter. The narrative is driven by classic Asian horror tropes, local social decay, and the supernatural escalation during Chinese Ghost Month. The central conflict is the protective mother versus the toxic male figure and the literal ghosts of past tragedies. It is a genre exercise rooted in Taiwanese culture and does not engage in Western identity politics, civilizational self-hatred, or queer theory. The supernatural and cultural elements provide a transcendent moral backdrop of cause and effect (vengeful spirits), not moral relativism. The main ideological point is the vilification of the abusive male figure and the celebration of motherhood as a protective force.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The film is a Taiwanese production focused on local social issues and supernatural horror tropes. The casting is culturally authentic to its setting. There is no critique of 'whiteness' or forced insertion of Western-style diversity. Characters are defined by their struggles with abuse, poverty, and addiction.

Oikophobia1/10

The narrative critiques local issues of poverty, domestic abuse, and urban decay within a specific, non-Western context (Taiwan). It incorporates local traditional cultural elements like the Chinese Ghost Month and a temple caretaker, which runs counter to civilizational self-hatred of one's home. The critique is internal to the setting, not a broad demonization of Western institutions or ancestors.

Feminism6/10

The core of the plot positions the female lead, a protective mother, against her male partner, who is explicitly depicted as a violent, gambling-addicted figure—a toxic male archetype. The male is presented as the primary source of real-world chaos and danger. While the mother-daughter bond is central and motherhood is a source of strength (not a 'prison'), the strong vilification of the primary male character aligns with the higher end of the scale for this category.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative is centered entirely on a traditional mother-daughter unit and the breakdown of a heterosexual, nuclear-family-style pairing due to abuse. There is no presentation or centering of alternative sexualities, deconstruction of the nuclear family as a political act, or discussion of gender ideology.

Anti-Theism3/10

The story incorporates traditional Chinese folk religion—specifically the Chinese Ghost Month and a temple caretaker—as a functional and significant part of the world. Warnings from the religious figure are presented as legitimate. There is no hostility toward religion, especially not Christianity, and the existence of vengeful ghosts and spiritual consequences implies a form of transcendent morality where actions have spiritual weight.