Best known for the Comedy Central sketch ‘Key & Peele,’ this first time director hits it out of the park. ‘Get Out’ is a smart and unsettling horror film. Jordan Peele does what every talented filmmaker does well. He gets inspiration from such classics as ‘The Stepford Wives’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ then applies a fresh twist to it. In this case, the premise is a satire on the black experience in white America. Whites have always been warned not to go into a black neighborhood. But what if the tables were turned? Young black men in peril when they enter an affluent white neighborhood. It’s ingenious how the racial stereotypes are presented. These are rich liberal whites that are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. ‘Get Out’ is the breakout horror film of the year.
The opening grabs you and sets the tone of the film. A young black man is walking down a suburban street. He jokes to someone on his cell phone how he always gets lost because all the streets sound the same. A car passes him and then slowly turns around. Suddenly, the intensity of the situation is magnified. We are thrown into a world now where the suburbs are not safe. The film cuts to Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams). He is packing for a weekend trip to meet her parents for the first time. With hesitation, he looks at her and asks “Do they know?” The question means does Rose’s parents know that Chris is black. She ignores the question assuring him that her father voted for Obama. Chris’s TSA Agent buddy Rod (a hilarious Lilrel Howery) warns him, “Don’t go to a white girl’s parents’ house!”
The suburb is never given a name. It could be in any wealthy enclave across the country. When they drive up to the mansion, the first thing that you notice is a black groundskeeper named Walter (Marcus Henderson) and a blissfully happy maid Georgina (Betty Gabriel). Chris nods at them but there is something disconcerting about the behavior of these two servants. Rose’s dad Dean (Bradley Whitford) and mom Missy (Catherine Keener) welcome the young man with open arms. It’s almost as if they are too friendly. Although Chris feels a certain amount of unease as we do, he brushes it off and tries to make the best of the weekend. When he finds out that Missy is a hypnotherapist, the red flags slowly begin to appear. She wants to help him with his smoking addiction but he is wary of letting anyone get into his head.
Kaluuya delivers a breakout performance as Chris. He shows confidence and thinks he is in control. When Rose’s brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones) joins the family for dinner, things get uncomfortable during dessert. He starts talking about Mixed Martial Arts and deliberately tries to intimidate Chris. Jones plays the creepy brother to the hilt. When it gets too uneasiness, he turns to Georgina for support. He tells her, “When there’s too many white people, I get nervous.” She looks back at him with a forced smile and a tear rolls down her cheek as she assures him, “No, no, no.” It’s another sign that something is not right but Chris never gives up. He loves Rose and will make it through this weekend or at least he hopes to. Williams plays the concerned girlfriend perfectly. When white party guests make comments about Chris’s superior physique, it crosses your mind that his visit is more than just a meet-the-parents get together.
It’s incredible how Peele controls the tempo of the story. It’s a slow burn that builds to a terrifying climax. He uses racial tensions of modern society to make a horror film. Chris puts so much effort into feeling at ease around the wealthy white people that he never sees the real threat until he is petrified. ‘Get Out’ is a satire, a commentary on race relations and a brilliant horror film all wrapped up into one entertaining package. It’s an expertly crafted nightmare that should not be missed.
