Get Out Review

Jordan Peele is most known for ‘Key and Peele’ the comedy skit series starring himself and Keegan-Michael Key. His directorial debut, although containing some funny moments, is a full blown horror that plays off, like most great horror movies do, real life issues.

Christ Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) has been with Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) now for several months and it’s time to meet the parents. Meeting the parents, of course, could be scary enough for anyone, but for Chris, his biggest worry is whether Rose’s parents will have a problem with him being an African-American.

And… well, I’d prefer to tell you no more. The synopsis for Get Out is: a young African-American man visits his Caucasian girlfriend’s mysterious family estate. With that, you should watch it. Like most horror movies the trailers give away way too much, so I’d just leave it at this: the trip doesn’t go as planned.

Get Out is a small film held on the back off the tight direction of Peele and the actors surrounding him. Kaluuya gives a fantastic performance a Chris, a man who generally seems like a great guy. But it’s during the smaller, more tense, and weirder scenes where Kaluuya holds together scenes from falling into parody. Williams is also great in her first feature film role, especially towards the last third of the film. Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener and Caleb Landry Jones give wonderfully odd performances as the rest of Rose’s family as well.

Lil Rel Howery supplies the majority of the comedy relief as Chris’s best friend Rod, who works at the TSA. Although at first, I found his input annoying, especially after the film opens with such a tone setting Kubrick inspired credits sequence, his presence later in the family is appreciated as different views of sorts on events happening in the film.

The film, although a pretty basic horror story when you boil it down, is a euphemism for politics and racial issues in America. A lot of the films smaller details are thoroughly thought out and I believe a second viewing would make for an interesting spot-the-hint hunt.

Michael Abels has composed a standout score and one of the best horror scores I’ve heard in years. Its Kubrickian tone goes so well with what Peele was trying to achieve and helps add to the off-kilter scenes of in the middle of the film, as well as elevate some of the more jump-scare moments.

Get Out isn’t so much scary as it is just tense. Although the tension could have been built to a more typical scary last third, I appreciate the path Peele chose to go anyway, and it is a final 20 minutes that feels appropriate. Get Out may not be the scariest movie of the year, but Peele and all involved have created a horror movie that should start a conversation, and that’s what the best horror films do.

7.5*