"Us" Movie Review: The Jordan Peele’s Groundbreaking Horror Movie And A Worthy Follow-up To Film “Get Out”

Laavanya Hien|Apr 08, 2019

Although "Us" is a more conventional horror picture, this follow-up to film "Get Out" of director-writer Jordan Peele is curiously a more demanding experience.

Us

Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Lupita Nyong’o, Tim Heidecker, Winston Duke, Evan Alex, and Shahadi Wright Joseph
Director: Jordan Peele
Rating: 4.5/5

Although Us is a more conventional horror picture, this follow-up to film Get Out of director-writer Jordan Peele is curiously a more demanding experience.

Us Movie

The movie asks numerous viewings to be simply ingested - getting to know it might require a lot more. From the early scene of the caged rabbits to the image of a child who is scurrying on his all fours and the potent sight of the black handcuffed woman, Us is about an ambiguously aspiring chiller that viewers could predict their fears. And, there is nothing to be scarier.

Have a look at the film trailer below:

 

At the beginning of Us, audiences can spot the ominous titles which inform them that “there are thousands of miles of tunnels beneath the continental US” and “many have no known purpose at all”. As that information reveals, slavery is invoked - not only through the chained Lupita Nyong’o image but also via the concepts of duality and divisionism which Peele is considering.

This opening scene has its story going back to 1986. It is about a girl straying from her home throughout a night-time beach outing; then she runs into her doppelgänger. She is rattled by the experience, which makes her parents look for professional help.

Years later, Adelaide Thomas who has now grown up is coming back to a place where her childhood is full of trauma with her family, including her same-aged daughter. Gabe, her husband (acted by actor Winston Duke) is an example of the black male who is caught between two worlds - one is his cultured upbringing; whereas, the other involves the more wicked reputation of the people - those who Gabe has no connection except for the shared past.

Among the finest scenes of the movie, it exemplifies the command over the structure, pacing, and tone of Peele and in this most excellent scene, Red is the only one of doppelgängers family that can speak and deadpans the response to a question, “Who are you, people?”.

She says, “We are Americans”, then pausing for effect. The title of the movie suddenly makes sense. For more detail, it is not just about “them” and “us”, but it is more about “US”. Red uses a bone-chilling and screechy voice to give an explanation to Adelaide and that she is a member of the doppelgängers community named the Tethered. She says, the government created the Tethered who have lived their entire lives underground.

Overall, Us becomes an impressive classic horror film - possibly the best one since the film Get Out. You can say that it is a mythologically dense and possesses vital things to talk about race, cinema, masculinity, greed, capitalism, religion, and a lot more to be explored.