HIM director reveals the unusual influences behind the trippy new horror movie, from 90s Nike campaigns and Busta Rhymes to Mozart and Goya: "I had a reference for everything"

When it comes to horror movies, those behind the camera are often influenced by other genre fare, be it consciously or not. In the case of new sinister sports flick HIM, however, director Justin Tipping was inspired by everything but...

Outside of '90s Nike campaigns and Busta Rhymes' Gimme Some More, which famously sampled Bernard Herrmann's Psycho score back in 1998, the filmmaker says it was "fine art, sculpture, and architecture" that provided the backdrop for his latest offering.

"I had a reference for everything before making this, and would disseminate that out to every one of the department heads," Tipping tells GamesRadar+, ahead of the film's UK release. "We knew going in that we wanted to give it like its own kind of mythology and divinity, and all that religious subtext. It was actually written that his house was underground and we just so happened to find a location that suited that, one which justified top light. So every time you enter a space, it could feel like a chapel, or it could feel like God reaching down, touching from the heavens."

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Starring Tyriq Withers, Julia Fox, and Marlon Wayans, HIM follows up-and-coming football star Cameron Cade, whose dreams of getting drafted into the NFL are dashed when he's randomly attacked just a few days before the league's scouting combine. His luck turns around when he's invited to train at the remote compound of his idol, San Antonio Saviors quarterback Isaiah White – and if he impresses, Isaiah says he'll present Cam to the wider team as his future successor. Not long after he arrives, though, Isaiah's insecurities threaten to turn the dream deal into a nightmare.

"As we get farther into the story, we could cut that off and go completely controlled and severe with the light. We had that grounding point so it wouldn't just become hyper stylized out of nowhere," Tipping adds. "I wanted it to have a very larger-than-life feel. I knew we were gonna steal language from, like, 90s Nike campaigns and [Air] Jordan campaigns that were also using [Mozart's] Lacrimosa in slow motion, and Baroque influences and chiaroscuro lighting. In a sense, they were taking, like, a Goya and capturing it within a Nike lens. We were wondering how that nets out, and hoping that it would meet the Venn diagram of sports and horror."

HIM is out now in the US, and releases in UK cinemas on October 3. For more, check out our picks of the most exciting upcoming horror movies.