Get Out

Scary movies have been a staple genre in Hollywood forever, and periodically they hit a nerve with its audience. Ever since "Frankenstein" and "Dracula", we've all been scared out of our collective theater seats for decades. Since then, there have been films of this genre that have definitely stood out: "Psycho", "The Birds", "Silence of the Lambs", "The Sixth Sense" to mention a few. I had extreme trepidation in seeing "Get Out" which is why I hesitated so long, however after viewing it, it was certainly better than I ever thought it would be.

 

A young African-American photographer, Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) is nervous at the thought of meeting his white girlfriend, Rose's (Allison Williams) parents, Dean and Missy Armitage (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener) for the first time during a trip to the latter's country estate. However, his anxiety soon turns into outright terror when he discovers that the family's seemingly idyllic community is hiding a sinister conspiracy, one that involves the disappearance of several black people in the area. As Chris slowly becomes suspicious of something odd going on, at a party, one fellow black man, Andrew (Lakeith Stanfield) at the estate warns him to "get out". He soon learns this is easier said than done.

 

Others to round out the cast are Caleb Landry Jones as Jeremy Armitage, Rose's brother, Betty Gabriel as Georgina, Stephen Root as Jim Hudson, Marcus Henderson as Walter, Lil Rel Howery as Rod Williams, Chris's buddy, and Ashley LeConte Campbell as Lisa Deets.

 

Considering this is his first directed film, Jordan Peele excelled well with this thriller. I was all over my theater seat at certain pivotal places of this film. His ability to showcase these characters in strategic scenes was impressive. If this film is any indication, he has a future in the director's chair. It was also written by Peele ("Keanu" '16) plus a lot of TV. Considering the experience he has in writing, his ability to direct far exceeds his ability to write. Certainly, as stated prior, this was better than I expected, however as the story was unfolding, there were too many unanswered questions by film's end. The continuity was effective, but this script never asked why this community was doing what they were doing, and why target black people? Plus, how did the community know who to abduct and who not? These questions were either not addressed and/or not answered, so there was a bit of assuming that had to take place. What did impress me about this was that this filmmaker is a comedian, and this being a horror/thriller, it was surprising. Of course, this did have some comedic moments, it is still odd that it was created by a comedian. Possibly considering that "Keanu" was horribly written, maybe this was the direction to take.

 

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a wash, there were some interesting aspects to this--strong character development, and talented directing. Scary, spooky, quirky? Yes. M.Night Shaymalan would definitely approve of this.

 

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                            Rated: R                                104mins.