Get Out is probably the most surprisingly good movie of 2017 for me. I went in not knowing what to expect at all, really. I didn't watch any trailers, nor did I read much about the movie besides Jordan Peele from Key and Peele had written and directed this horror film which really intrigued me. But, considering that the rumors I heard had made it sound like some sort of SAW-esque type film I really wasn't expecting a lot. However, those rumors were quickly proved very, very wrong.
And, I was impressed with the film I ended up seeing it just a few days later again. It's probably one of my top 5 favorite horror/thriller films of the past 10 years, it's just a fresh breath of air for the horror genre in general, at least in my opinion. At times it can be unnaturally unnerving, and have you filled with absolute dread and paranoia. At the same time, it has a satirical element to it which blends in perfectly where you'll be chuckling while still feeling anxiety for what comes next. For this being Jordan Peele's debut as a director, I honestly cannot wait to see what he does next.
The film starts out setting the tone pretty perfectly for the rest of the film. We're shown a younger guy is walking down a suburbs street in the late evening while having a lighthearted conversation with someone on the phone about how often he gets lost due to generic street names. A vehicle playing some strange oldies style music passes by him, then suddenly turns around getting behind him, and starts creeping slowly on him while continuing to play the creepy music loudly.
He starts getting worried immediately considering it's an empty street late at night, and goes to turn around and go the way he came back. It shows that the vehicle has pulled over, and the driver door is wide open. Out of no where, the intensity of the creepy situation is jacked up past 10, and we're shown that even in this film the quiet safe suburbs aren't so safe. The movie then cuts over to a new setting, where we meet the protagonist of the film, Chris Washington. Chris is a talented and promising photographer who has a keen eye for catching the brutality of life and melancholic moments within the city he lives in. Our other protagonist is Chris's adoring girlfriend, Rose.
Chris is preparing to take a trip to meet Rose's parents for the first time, being noticeably nervous about the whole ordeal. Rose hasn't told her parents that her new boyfriend is black, which she thinks is no big deal and doesn't worry about it, while Chris is quite wary about it. His strange and funny TSA friend, Rod, urges him not go to believing that nothing good can come of it. However, Chris is smitten with rose and falling in love with her and knows he'll have to meet them at some point. His girlfriend tries to comfort him by reassuring him that her father would have voted for Obama another 3 times if he could have.
After hitting a deer on the highway and having an odd interaction with a police officer, they arrive at her parents home. We find out quickly while getting a tour of the home that her mother Missy is a psychiatrist, and her father Dean is a Neurosurgeon. Right from the get go of them arriving at her parents house, something just seems off about the entire place. But, you can't quite put your finger on what it is. Her parents come off as quite friendly, maybe a little too friendly. It seems like they're trying to dazzle Chris with how accepting and open they are. Quickly we're introduced to the helpers of the home, who honestly seem like aliens wearing human suits with how they behave.
Chris tries to ignore it, and play it off as strange human nature. Shortly after, Rose's brother Caleb is introduced during dinner, and for a short period everything seems normal and fine again. However, he starts coming off as a bit strange with his comments on how Chris could be a beast at fighting if he trained rigorously, and starts coming off a bit creepy. After everyone goes to bed, Chris decided he wants to go outside for a smoke and that's where things start becoming beyond strange, and just plain bizarre. I can't really go into this part too much without spoiling it for you.
Rose's parents inform them that there is an annual gathering of family friends happening the next day, which pushes the sketched out Chris into an even more worried and nervous state of mind. Chris attends the event and as we see the guest we notice that almost all of them are older, upper class white people who treat him like an object to be studied and admired for his physical gifts and cultural representation. Chris quickly realizes that something is going on, and his mind races to try and understand what exactly is happening around him.
The final act of this film is just full blown unpredictable insanity, and somewhat pushes more of the humorous aspect of the film on the backburner and focuses far more on the horror aspect of the movie. The first half of the movie is like a storm slowly brewing, leaving us a variety of clues to let us know that there's something really wrong going on. At times it seems like Chris is just overreacting to the situations due to racial tension. However, Jordan Peele does an amazing job at leaving everything with an undertone of menace and making you question it all.
This movie will keep you on edge and make you feel uncertain about everything that's happening. There are plenty of thrills with the psychological horror going on, which should appease many horror fans who aren't just looking for a gore fest. This ambitious film is well worth a watch, if not multiple watches to catch things that you had missed on the first viewing. I honestly have to say, during the second viewing once you know what's actually going on it almost seems even more creepy. I can only say I definitely recommend checking this out, and that I'd be shocked if you didn't enjoy it.
Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed my movie review please feel free to resteem it as I could really use the extra visibility. Stay tuned for more movie reviews in the near future!
This was surprisingly one of the best movies I have seen in a while. I always look for some new ones to watch before bed some times and this one came up high on user rankings on rotten tomatos so I gave it a shot. Was not disappointed!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Yeah, I didn't even realize how high of a rating it had on RT actually, haha. I figured it would have went down a bit since it came out, but looks like it held strong.
I read your review and watched it tonight.
Was not dissapointed.
Without giving too much away, I love the little twist at the end.
Great recommendation. Thanks!
Awesome! Glad you gave it a watch and that you liked it, bud!
I think I might repost this at some point to try and get some more visibility. I think this was one of my better reviews I've wrote, yet it's my least viewed one I'm pretty sure, lol.
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I watched this movie 3 or 4 days ago. For me it was one of the worst movies i've seen in years. I felt no tension from the beginning to the end. It just felt like nothing happened at all. I think the runtime was 104 minutes when it could have been 60 or 70 minutes to tell the story.
You're the first person and maybe the only person I've heard say they just flat out hated it. I think it had a few small issues in the last act with bringing everything together. But yeah, really surprised you disliked it so much, haha.
I watched the movie with my 2 brothers and a friend. We all had the same opinion. But it's okay. You don't have to like every movie :D
Unless that movie is Birdemic: Shock and Terror. Then you MUST love it.
Seriously though, yeah, everyone has different tastes. If you don't like the movie, you don't like it. No big deal there, lol.