A lot of people have been talking about how odd it is that Jordan Peele, who is well known for being a master of sketch comedy, wrote and directed Get Out, a psychological horror film about race. For me, its honestly not all that strange, though it is odd to see Peele’s name attached to something that doesn't also involve his long-time partner, Keegan Michael Key. Having watched many of the sketches from his hit Comedy Central show, Key & Peele, I think the potential to create interesting horror or drama is apparent. Many of the sketches on that show involved taking issues of race, setting them up in a dramatic way but using a punchline to turn the drama into comedy. Take away the punchline, and you’ve got meaningful drama. The same goes for horror, and Peele proves with Get Out that he can write basically anything.
The movie follows a couple, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and Rose (Allison Williams), who are about to go visit Rose’s family in white suburbia. Chris, nervous about meeting a family of white people who may or may not be racially insensitive, starts to become even more alarmed when he sees how few black people live in the parent’s community. Things worsen as Chris sees just how strangely the few black people he does meet act, and soon learns why that he never should have visited in the first place.
It may seem from my description like little happens in this film, but that is merely my attempt to keep as much of what happens a secret for those who may be interested in seeing the film. The movie is edge-of-your-seat tense (almost exhaustingly so), with almost every scene building the suspense of the increasingly horrible situation Chris is trapped in. The true prowess of Peele’s writing and direction comes through in scenes where nothing overtly scary actually happens, but you are tensely waiting for the many warning signs to build into a reveal or scare. The movie is never reliant on jump-scares for its horror, making the suspense feel less manufactured.
And, like a lot of the other works of Peele, the movie expertly crafts a message about race. While at times the racial rhetoric may feel slightly heavy-handed, it's the level of accuracy that adds to the uncomfortable feeling that the movie generates and feeds into the film’s overall tension. I, a white, middle-class, heterosexual man, have never had to worry about things like whether or not my significant other's parents are racist nor have I been asked to show my licence to a police officer when I wasn't even driving a car. But these are things that real people have to go through on a daily basis for no other reason than who they are, and the movie uses that injustice to enhance both its message and tension.
Honestly, the only thing I left the theatre yearning for was a longer third act. The film feels like it moves from its final twist to the end too quickly, and I wanted to know more about what was going on and the implications of Chris’ situation. But this issue is minor when looking at the film as a whole. Get Out is a really good horror movie, proving that Jordan Peele has the skills to write practically anything. It kept me intrigued, much more so than most horror films, and for that I must recommend it to even those who claim (like me) to not be horror fans.
Grade: B+
The movie follows a couple, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and Rose (Allison Williams), who are about to go visit Rose’s family in white suburbia. Chris, nervous about meeting a family of white people who may or may not be racially insensitive, starts to become even more alarmed when he sees how few black people live in the parent’s community. Things worsen as Chris sees just how strangely the few black people he does meet act, and soon learns why that he never should have visited in the first place.
It may seem from my description like little happens in this film, but that is merely my attempt to keep as much of what happens a secret for those who may be interested in seeing the film. The movie is edge-of-your-seat tense (almost exhaustingly so), with almost every scene building the suspense of the increasingly horrible situation Chris is trapped in. The true prowess of Peele’s writing and direction comes through in scenes where nothing overtly scary actually happens, but you are tensely waiting for the many warning signs to build into a reveal or scare. The movie is never reliant on jump-scares for its horror, making the suspense feel less manufactured.
And, like a lot of the other works of Peele, the movie expertly crafts a message about race. While at times the racial rhetoric may feel slightly heavy-handed, it's the level of accuracy that adds to the uncomfortable feeling that the movie generates and feeds into the film’s overall tension. I, a white, middle-class, heterosexual man, have never had to worry about things like whether or not my significant other's parents are racist nor have I been asked to show my licence to a police officer when I wasn't even driving a car. But these are things that real people have to go through on a daily basis for no other reason than who they are, and the movie uses that injustice to enhance both its message and tension.
Honestly, the only thing I left the theatre yearning for was a longer third act. The film feels like it moves from its final twist to the end too quickly, and I wanted to know more about what was going on and the implications of Chris’ situation. But this issue is minor when looking at the film as a whole. Get Out is a really good horror movie, proving that Jordan Peele has the skills to write practically anything. It kept me intrigued, much more so than most horror films, and for that I must recommend it to even those who claim (like me) to not be horror fans.
Grade: B+
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