Known for his interest in both horror and comedy, Director Jordan Peele now takes a more ethical approach. Peele has been deemed by many to be a modern day horror maestro. His first directorial effort Get Out won an Oscar for its screenplay, but many feared it was a fluke. Us arrived in March to prove the man's Hitchcockian-like skills in manipulated and scaring audiences. So naturally after loving "Get Out", the new movie "Us" was a must see by this writer, only this time there was more to think about. Scary movies are generally pretty good at eliciting fear from the audience through the sounds and angles used. So of course "Us" had all of those same elements.
Although, it was unlike other scary movies in the way that it ended. Because the plot was so well introduced, you felt more of a connection with the unsettling actors. Therefore, when it was over, it leaves you pondering about who the villain really is, as well as the darkness inside everyone. Most scary movies I've seen never have you questioning who you should be afraid of or who the bad guy is. Well, that isn't the case here. Throughout the movie, Peele, as the writer and the director of the piece, leaves clues to how maybe the monster is you. If you haven't seen the movie you may want to stop reading here before I spoil the ending. (But based on what you've read so far, I hope you make time to see it.)
Because the protagonist isn't who she says she is, the viewers connect with this possibly evil character the whole time. I say possibly evil because this is where it gets tricky; it's hard to tell whether this duplicate as the protagonist or the real girl is the one we should fear. Either way, because the duplicate is an exact copy of the girl, she is to blame. We are to blame. You and Me are the monsters. Us as mankind is the villain.
