Us – 5 out of 5
Jordan Peele is a creative genius. I’m not being hyperbolic, I really mean this. His comedic work is astounding and I quickly became a fan of him when I saw his sketches with his partner Keegan-Michael Key. And then Get Outarrived and everything changed. I sadly didn’t get to see Get Out in the theaters like I wanted to as a comedian doing a horror film intrigued me greatly but I ended buying the film when it arrived on Blu-ray and found it to be utterly astounding. Read my glowing review here. When I saw the trailer for his follow-up feature, Us, I was immediately sold. Like Get Out, I wasn’t able to get to the theater to see it (going to the cinema is expensive) but made the decision I would blind buy it when it came out for Home Release. I had absolutely no reservations about buying the film without seeing it because I trusted Peele and, even if the gamble didn’t payoff, at least I would be showing my support for an artist I have a tremendous amount of respect for. Not surprisingly, the film is awesome beyond words, so buckled up because this is going to be a gushing review to an amazing work of horror and an absolutely captivating thriller.
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| You don't even get to see what this little girl was scared of at first and that alone made me crap my pants. |
Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) and her family; her husband Gabe (Winston Duke), her daughter Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and her son Jason (Evan Alex), take a vacation to a lake house in Santa Cruz. As a child, Adelaide suffered a traumatic experience while in a hall of mirrors where she encountered a doppelgänger of herself. The trip to Santa Cruz has reawakened this childhood trauma and Adelaide is on edge. Her fears become justified when, at night, doppelgängers of herself and her entire family appear outside and invade the home. Their intent is to kill Adelaide and her family but who exactly they are and where they came from proves to be even more terrifying.
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| Yep, I just would have turned and immediately started running away from them until I died of exhaustion. I'm going out on my terms! |
Where do I begin with Us? There is so much working in this film’s favor that it’s really hard for me to figure where to start singing my praises. I guess I’ll start with the thing that is most import to horror films and thrillers: The scare factor. Us is very unsettling and immensely creepy. It has its share of jump scares for the immediate, visceral reactions but, for the most part, the film and its tone is about making you very uncomfortable. The way the performances played out and when mixed in concert with the underlying tones of a person’s worst enemy being themselves and the use of its attention-grabbing score and mood altering silences made for a feature that sends shivers down one’s spine and creeps you out in the best possible way—the way a horror film should be. Jordan Peele’s craftsmanship with this feature was so intricate that he made the most simplistic moments terrifying and the whole overall product stick with you not just because it was creepy AF but because it contains so many layers and themes. (I won’t lie, I had trouble sleeping because I kept waking up and expecting to see a terrifying version of me standing at the foot of my bed)
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| Play The Prodigy's "Firestarter" for full effect. |
The story, at its most simplistic, is already interesting as hell. Just the very idea of a demented and tormented version of yourself coming after you with the intent to kill you is both horrifying and engaging. Having this on a scale of an entire family just ups the creep factor but also buts a new spin on the home invasion concept. Then, to add to it, it’s a socially aware film providing commentary about our society in this story and presents a black family in a positive, normal light—something horror films don’t have a very good track record of doing. Finally, there’s the film’s big reveal and the twist where we learn what is really occurring and it was immensely satisfying. I won’t give anything away because of Spoilers but the end moments are wickedly cool to experience. However, unlike a lot of films that offer up twist endings or involve some sort of mystery, the feature was never one where I was anxious to get to the end just so I can learn the conclusion. The whole ride was entertaining and the ending was the cherry on top. The story is crafted in a such a way that you are there with the family in the moment, experiencing the terror they are and unsure of where they are going next or what will happen to the in the coming moments. There’s also the way that Peele sorta played you as the viewer with a certain aspect and it was so sly that I couldn’t help but smirk at how he created all the misdirection that blinded you to this reality.
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| I know that, in theory, home invasion films are meant to be terrifying but they've never worked for me...and then Jordan Peele made Us. |
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| Tim Heidecker is in the film. Comedians are taking over the genre of horror and I am loving it! |
One of the things that grabbed me with Get Out was the social awareness of it and the commentary Peele made. The story never was too obvious with the message it was conveying but never too oblivious either and that is something he really nailed with Us. Also like Get Out, the film is filled with hidden clues and sly foreshadowing that hints to what is going to happen and none of them are obvious but neither are they hidden. It’s a horror/thriller that feels specifically designed for repeated viewings so you can appreciate the art and the message that Peele is transmitting-both from a storytelling perspective and from a thematic and tonal approach. He is exploring some real issues that our society is drenched in but he never does it in a way that feels heavy-handed. The story explores ideas of classism, how certain portions of our society can have negative impacts on other parts, frustrations about one’s life being uncontrollable, and rebellion and he brings about these ideas in a creative and, most importantly, terrifying ways. This movie and its use of symbolism and structure are a film professor’s dream come true and it is able to be this without ever coming off as pretentious or smug.
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| If you don't think that for the rest of my life I'm going to be constantly on the lookout for an Evil Ron ready to murder me with scissors then you'd be wrong. |
Finally, the performances in this film are fantastic. Lupita Nyong’o is the standout in this one because her character—both of them—are so complex and dynamic that to give them justice would be no easy feat but she made it look like it was nothing. To be able to be both a character that you are cheering on as one character and absolutely terrified of another is downright magical. This balance is seen by everyone in the cast and it was just awesome to see each and every single player do these dual roles.
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| I love Lupita but I guess having a healthy fear of her alongside that love isn't necessarily a bad thing. |
There wasn’t a single thing about Us that I didn’t like. Jordan Peele created such a detailed and intricate horror/thriller that has so many layers but never feels overwhelming to experience. The cast is unbelievable, the story is engaging, the atmosphere is unsettling and the whole product just leaves you thinking long after the thing is over. I am very excited to see what else Peele has in the works and up his sleeves!
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