Us review

US:

JORDAN PEELE CONTINUES HIS DIRECTING CAREER WITH ONE HELL OF A CREEPY FLICK! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

A group of doppelgangers terrorize a small family in Us

            Jordan Peele (Key & Peele, Get Out, BlacKkKlansman) who surprised critics and audiences everywhere with his 2017 directorial debut Get Out, returns to his darker side with the new horror film Us. Ever since I saw Get Out for the first time, I couldn’t wait for Jordan Peele to direct another scary flick with his unique blend of horror and humor as well as racial and social themes. 

            Peele reunites with Get Out producer Jason Blum (Split, Happy Death Day 1 and 2, Glass) for Us and while I don’t think it stands quite as tall as Get Out, it’s still a very smart and effective creep show. I’d consider Get Out to be more like a horror-comedy in terms of how it’s presented, THIS on the other hand is the stuff of nightmares in all the right ways and takes a psychological thriller approach rather than a typical “BOO-Fest”. 

            It isn’t filled to the brim with annoying jump-scares or gory slasher violence, just a creepy atmosphere, disturbing imagery, a complex mystery, and a family constantly in peril. If being chased by a sadistic version of yourself who’s trying to kill you isn’t horrifying, I don’t know what is and Peele delivers on this gleefully bizarre and haunting premise.

             The film follows the Wilson family consisting of Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o-12 Years a Slave, Star Wars sequel trilogy, Marvel Cinematic Universe), her husband Gabe (Winston Duke-Person of Interest, Modern Family, Marvel Cinematic Universe), and their children Zora and Jason (Newcomers, Shahadi Wright and Evan Alex) spending a relaxing day at the beach in Santa Cruz. However, that night they notice a strange looking family standing outside their driveway. How strange? They look exactly like the Wilsons. 

            The arrival of these sadistic doppelgangers (all portrayed by the same actors) channels a traumatizing and unresolved moment from Adelaide’s past as this normal American family is pitted against these terrifying opponents and must fight for their survival. However, what looks to be a basic home invasion scenario is hiding something much more frightening under the surface.

            The film also stars Elizabeth Moss (Girl, Interrupted, Mad Men, The Handmaid’s Tale) as Kitty Tyler, Tim Heidecker (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Bridesmaids, Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Josh Tyler, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (The Get Down, The Greatest Showman, Aquaman) as Russell Thomas, Anna Diop (Everybody Hates Chris, 24: Legacy, Titans) as Rayne Thomas, and Kara Hayward (Moonrise Kingdom, Manchester by the Sea, Isle of Dogs) as Nancy.

            Overall, Us is a mind-blowing experience and a solid film for Peele to follow Get Outup with. I’ll admit the film doesn’t really have the same balance of terror and comedy that Get Outhad but there are sparks of it in here.

            This is mostly a straight-up suspense ride with creepy figures roaming around, gruesome deaths involving scissors, and a lot of horrific imagery…some of which involving rabbits. Yeah, there’s no recurring joke about people being brainwashed into sex-slaves here, but the comedic side of Us does show its face from time to time. 

            You’ll have characters running and fighting off the doppelgangers in these horrifying situations, but they’ll take a moment to breathe and crack a joke about it…and they genuinely work. It isn’t like the family members are spewing catchphrases or one-liners after escaping the doppelgangers but instead a witty remark about the predicament they’re in that feels very natural and never out of place. 

            All the performances in Us are superb especially Lupita Nyong’o as both Adelaide and the doppelganger mother. One is a frightened mother with a tragic and mysterious past and the other is a sadistic, violent, and flat out terrifying version of herself who speaks like a person possessed by an evil spirit, you know those Exorcist or Conjuring movies? Yeah, she sounds like one of those characters, but she has to portray them both simultaneously and she completely exceeded my expectations, this is Lupita at her best and she deserves an Oscar.

            Even characters like the father and the kids who I thought would be incredibly annoying won me over. Nobody is treated like horror movie stereotypes and I was convinced that I was watching people trapped in a horrific situation which made me care about the family and wanted to see them get through it.

            Similar to my experience while watching Get Out, I was on the edge of my seat all the way through and had no idea where it was going with its bonkers premise. There was never a boring moment nor scenes that I would skip during re-watches. 

            A minor nitpick I had with the movie was the resolution, without giving anything away when it reached its final act and we see the shocking twist I felt it wasn’t fully explored and could have been made a little stronger. It doesn’t ruin the movie in any way but in terms of delivering a satisfyingly suspenseful payoff, I think Get Out did it better.

            Us is a very frightening and original horror flick and a solid follow-up to Get Out for director Jordan Peele that almost mirrors M. Night Shyamalan’s early success with The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. With Peele’s trademark blend of suspense, wit, and timely themes he is following in the footsteps of Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Wes Craven as a new horror/thriller filmmaker legend with another effective thriller that will hopefully be talked about just as much as Get Out.