GUYS....I saw Get Out this weekend. AKA I actually left my house and went to the movie theater (which is like a ten minute walk - I'm that lazy). It was amazing. I went at noon on Sunday by myself and there weren't too many people there so I had a whole row to myself to really absorb the movie.
LET'S TALK ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (there will be spoilers but nothing major)
GET OUT 2017
A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Jordan Peele is a friggin' godsend to the horror genre. Obviously, Peele comes from a comedy background including his hilarious sketch show "Key & Peele" but he's now dropped a goddamn genre hybrid into our laps. Get Out is hilarious but also terrifying, and sometimes this happens in the exact same moment. It's unsettling and leaves a bad taste in your mouth as you go to bed that night. I had some WACKY ass nightmares about falling endlessly through the blackness like Chris does in Get Out. I was also incredibly sick that night and was blacking out every few minutes. BUT EVEN THEN - it stuck with me.
Peele created this movie because he wanted to attempt something not done before or done properly, he refers to it a lot as a social thriller. And it worked - Get Out feels fresh and new and I hope this movie inspires more film makers to be as brave and smart. Obviously he takes a lot of inspiration from some of the greats including Stepford Wives. And to me this movie felt like Stepford Wives meets You're Next. Just go with it. That's what I felt OKAY.
But essentially this film is about that gross feeling you get when you walk into a room and realize you don't belong. This movie takes that classic horror trope of "something is wrong behind those closed doors" and mixes it with a modern, racial edge.
The opening of the movie sets the tone for the rest of the film - a man is walking down a suburban street chatting on the phone about being lost. He hangs up and begins to talk to himself about how freaked out and lost he is even though he's just in a regular suburb. A car passes him playing a terrifying song, and soon stops and begins to follow him. Suddenly this character is taken so quickly and perfectly staged that you feel breathless as we jump into the movie, knowing that the suburbs aren't as safe as they seem.
Chris, played by Daniel Kaluuya and Rose, his girlfriend, played by Allison Williams are our main characters. Rose has invited Chris to meet her family for the first time. Chris' best friend, a TSA agent played by LilRey Howery named Rod warns him against going but of course, Chris goes anyway.
When Chris and Rose arrive at her parents house (played by Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener) things immediately become unsettling. As Chris is taken on a tour of the house it's uncomfortable as Dean, the father, tries much too hard to make Chris feel comfortable and to think he's cool. When the groundskeeper and the housekeeper are introduced, things get even more unsettling and The Stepford Wives vibe comes into play. You know there's something wrong in this house, and so does Chris, but you don't know exactly what. When Rose's brother, Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones) arrives things become even more odd and awkward.
The first half of the film lays out all the clues for you, and as you attempt to weave them together, the story begins to pick up. Peele is excellent at allowing the visuals to speak for themselves. He also walks an amazing line between showing exchanges and moments that could just be racial tension, but could also be something more menacing. As the finale of the movie comes into play, everything fits into place and things go very quickly. The insanity of the final scenes leave you tense and terrified of what's going to happen. And the ending itself I found incredibly satisfying.
The acting in this movie is phenomenal too. Caleb Landry Jones was terrifying in a slightly insane, any minute now this guy's gonna lose it, kind of way. And Kaluuya is everything a leading man should be in a horror movie. Catherine Keener was so unsettling and her "therapy" scenes are what really stuck with me when the movie was over.
Get Out is hilarious and terrifying and quite frankly, perfect from the get go. You are pulled along with the story, allowing yourself to be relaxed when the movie takes you that way and then losing it when the movie ramps up. The humor is amazing and refreshing (black sex slaves ya'll). But most importantly Peele does what all great horror creators do - he takes every day fears and amplifies them. Oh, and it's kicking ass in the box office JUST LIKE ALL THE HORROR MOVIES THIS YEAR WHAT WHATTTTTT. I feel incredibly smug that horror has been some of the top money makers so far.
Anyway, THIS MOVIE IS AMAZING. It's refreshing, it's terrifying, it's clever, it's funny, it's everything you want out of a horror film. I cannot wait to see what Peele does next in the horror genre and quite frankly, what the rest of the horror year is going to look like! (did ya'll see that new Covenant trailer?!?!)
Solid 10/10 - can't wait to see it again.
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