Just how scary can a horror flick written by a comedian be?
As it turns out, pretty damned scary.
From the whacked mind of Jordan Peele (of Key & Peele fame) comes the seemingly simple story of a black guy meeting his white girlfriend’s parents over a weekend. While anyone who has ever been in an interracial relationship can testify that the experience is terrifying enough in itself, the creep factor of Get Out goes up to 11 after Chris (our protagonist, played by Daniel Kaluuya) starts uncovering more about the family.
Things get, for lack of a better word, weird.
The family has black servants that don’t seem black at all. His girlfriend’s mother may or may not have hypnotised him. Chris starts unraveling the truth about his hosts.
In a way, Get Out is very much like a Key & Peele sketch. It takes ordinary day life and just spins a question of “what if?”
In this premise, it’s “what if cultural appropriation was a lot more literal?” In taking that question and pumping it full of satire and an uneasy horror spin, Peele sneaks this question in and forces you to think about racism, all while having you on the edge of the damned seat. With the first half of the film serving as a Twilight Zone-esque introduction of interracial uncanny valley, Peele sets up the second half as a thrill ride, with you trying to champion a protagonist that’s well-written and defying a horror trope.
Every scene and every beat is timed to perfection, perhaps a mark of someone who’s spent years perfecting the art of sketches. When you’ve a joke and a punchline to play out in a two minute sketch, every line has to hit the right note and Peele has managed to accomplish that across the whole of Get Out. We can’t reveal any spoilers but let’s just say that if you’re a fan of sociology, Get Out is a great way to start a discussion. It’s a giant allegory for the post-racial world we appear to live in these days where seemingly, we’ve all learnt to get along better. But what’s really behind our smiles and nods?
Get Out is now showing at The Projector