Fact check- Is the Amazon series Them: The Scare based on a true story?

With the release of Them: The Scare, the second season of the black horror anthology series created by Little Marvin, netizens are more than eager to find out if the show is based on real events. To that end, the answer is a definitive no.

Although both seasons of the show use prevalent themes that resonate socio-politically with many black folks, the stories in particular are not real-life stories.

Them: The Scare was released on April 25, 2024, on Amazon Prime Video and is the second installment of the hit horror series that was released on April 9, 2021. The official logline for the second season reads:

"Them: The Scare centers on LAPD Homicide Detective Dawn Reeve, who is assigned to a new case: the gruesome murder of a foster home mother that has left even the most hardened detectives shaken. Navigating a tumultuous time in Los Angeles, with a city on the razor’s edge of chaos, Dawn is determined to stop the killer. But as she draws closer to the truth, something ominous and malevolent grips her and her family…"

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers. Please read at your discretion.

---

What theme does Them: The Scare follow?

Little Marvin talked about his process of making the Them series (Image via Getty)

As mentioned previously, despite not being based on real events, Them: The Scare has some passing themes that are resonative of actual issues persisting in societies. On the surface, it is a horror series that unravels the terror induced by Edmund Gaines's alter ego after his death, but at its heart, it's much more than that. It is a commentary on racism, white supremacy, and other interrelated issues that currently plague societies.

A similar theme was followed in the previous installment of the series, where besides the presence of actual terror units, there are underlying insidious ones that often tend to get overlooked. The show's creator, Little Marvin, wanted to put a magnifying glass on these issues and make them more relatable by presenting them using common horror tropes.

He made this clear during a conversation with the New York Times back in 2020, where he said:

"Sometimes these stories tend to be trapped in amber."

He also added that projects addressing the same issues as he did in the show often tend to be "very staid," which runs the risk of not being impactful enough to trigger understanding or change.

During the same discussion, he also talked about his writing process and how it was inspired by events happening around him, saying:

"I started writing it summers back, and during a time where every morning I was waking up and grabbing my phone and seeing Black folks terrorized by the police. So the fact that we would find ourselves in this place years later, to me, it just says that the journey was valid, and that what we’re exploring is necessary."

---

Who is the killer in Them: The Scare?

Luke James, who plays the character of Edmund Gaines in Them: The Scare, is the killer in the show. However, there is a twist to his character and his genesis as the main antagonist of the show, and the audience will have to watch the show to understand it.

---

All eight episodes of Them: The Scare are currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.