It’s not easy piecing together a thrilling horror which has very rarely been seen before, one that will have audiences beguiled by its mixture of humour, horror, political statements and a barrel load of suspense.
Jordan Peele, in his directorial debut with Get Out, has broken out of his comedy corner and rustled up a dish of fresh, fun yet horrifyingly thrilling main course of horror goodness.
Setting the tone very early on, Peele turns the norm on its head as we follow a young black man, on his phone, late at night, lost in a ‘safe’ suburban street when he is snatched and thrown into the back of a car. Quickly cutting to Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), a young photographer, and his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) discussing the impending meet-the-parents trip and the blaring issue, whether they know he is black. After a short hiccup involving a subtly racist white police officer, the couple arrive at Rose’s parent’s house and are greeted without a raised eyebrow by her father Dean (Bradley Whitford) and mother Missy (Catherine Keener) proving Chris has nothing to worry about… or does he?
Chris soon gathers something isn’t quite right here after being introduced to the black housekeeper and gardener with their robotic like speech and glazed over stare, Dean tries to explain that it looks bad having them working for the family and backs it up by admitting he would have voted for Obama for a third term, this being Just one of the scathing digs at the white middle-class masses of the American population. Chris’s weekend spirals out of control after his first petrifying night which plays out like a scene orchestrated from Marvel’s Legion.
Breaking in with the humour is Chris’s best friend Rod, played by US comic, Lil Rey Howery, the voice of doom and gloom on the other end of the phone warning Chris time and time again that no good could come from this trip, foreseeing the danger almost like he has watched too many horror movies where the black dude is always killed off first. Chris feeds worrying information to Rob who undertakes his own investigation, tries to present this to the cops but they laugh in his face forcing him to take matters into his own hands.
Peele cleverly builds the tension slowly but surely with a shrewd use of music causing jump scare after jump scare, guaranteeing an almighty explosion in the last third of hands over the eyes terror when all is revealed and the horror and anxiety comes at the audience with such force you’ll feel like your own head has been blown off.
Only recently, Samuel L. Jackson has had an undignified dig at the casting of Black Brits in American roles, after watching British actor Daniel Kaluuya take on Chris and effortlessly making this role his own with an outstandingly real performance makes his casting speak for itself.
Get Out deserves the riotous response it has received with its mixture of a subtle politically racial plot delivering a comic yet terrifying escape from the frightening world issues we are currently facing which could come right out of a Hollywood script.
Get Out is in cinemas March 17.
