"Now that Chris and his girlfriend, Rose, have reached the meet-the- parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he could have never imagined."
When word first got out that Jordan
Peele, of comedy duo Key & Peele, was making his directorial
debut as well as writing a horror movie, many were skeptical, myself
included.
Boy, we were wrong.
Jordan Peele is the real deal.
GET OUT is a genuinely creepy,
disturbing film by someone who knows and loves horror movies.
There's a solid feel to this movie,
right from the start with a lone person, lost on a dark street, being
stalked. This is how dozens of horror films have begun, but making
it an African-American man brings along extra tension and
foreboding.
That's what is great about GET OUT. It isn't a
just a horror movie with some thoughts on racism in America, nor is
is it an examination of race relations with elements of horror. Both
are equally intertwined, each informing the other to make it
something I can't say I've seen before.
As
Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) comes closer into Rose Armitage's (Allison
Williams)'s world, worried about fitting in, his feeling of isolation
is justified right from the start. An encounter with the local
police, odd questions by the family, and the behavior of the people
working for Missy (Catherine Keener) and Dean (Bradley Whitford) all
add to Chris' paranoia. But it isn't just that, as we all realize
that there's something off-and not because of just race.
This
is the strength of the film, connecting you with Chris, so that the
warning signs of something wrong could just be our own fears. Daniel
Kaluuya really brings a strong presence to the role, allowing you to
connect to Chris. You are along with him on his journey, while
getting a perspective you might not have yourself. Williams, Keener,
Bradley and Caleb Landry Jones (as son Jeremy Armitage) all do great
work, swinging between gregarious to possibly ominous. Rounding out
the cast, Marcus Henderson, Betty Gabriel, and LilRel Howery all add
srong work to the world of the film.
The film is strong, sleek, and without
anything to take off of it. Peele is comfortable in the horror world
and obviously is enjoying himself! He manages to hit classic horror
tropes without them being cliches. In fact, the one “off” moment
of a extra loud musical “sting” in a scene, I almost believe was
done on purpose, almost as an homage! What is obvious as well, is
that Jordan Peele is confident in his ability as a director, a rare
thing for a first-timer.
I have no doubt that we'll be seeing
a lot more from Jordan Peele. I'm looking forward to it.
While I've included the trailer, if
you have any interest in seeing GET OUT, don't watch it! Just go-the
less information you go in with the better. Especially if you are a horror fan, treat yourself.
NOTE: There is no post-credits scene.
