(Non-bookish) Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele, movie review

After months of wanting to see Get Out, I finally went to the cinema and watched it this weekend. I was very worried that the hype this movie was receiving was going to make this a complete let down but oh boy was I wrong. This lived up to my expectations perfectly, it was maybe even better than I had imagined it would be!

Spoiler free review!

So, holy crap. This is the best horror / psychological thriller I’ve seen in a damn long time. If you’re an easily scared type, this film is going to mess you up. I haven’t jumped so much at a film in years, maybe ever! The jump scares in this movie often come out of nowhere. Even when no tension is being built, Peele throws in a little shock. The cinema was packed when I saw this and not one person in the room didn’t jump. If you like a scare, like me, this film will definitely provide!

I’m sure you all know what this film is roughly about. A black man and his white girlfriend go to visit her very middle class parents in an affluent white neighbourhood and though everyone seems nice enough, there is something not quite right about the town. There are very few black people in the town, but the ones who are present are very, very odd.

The opening scene for this film is intense and completely sucks you into the story straight away. I had goosebumps straight off.

The plot for this film took a turn I wasn’t expecting at all. I have my thoughts about what the plot of this film could be, but I wasn’t expecting what it became. It was an extremely unique and freaky story. Also, considering this is rated a 15, this is pretty gory! If you’re a bit blood queasy, you may not like this as much, but it’s not too extreme, just more bloody than I expected it to be.

Casting… well, what can I say? Daniel Kaluuya is an actor I already like, so I was already looking forward to seeing him in this huge role, but my God, he was superb! For Allison Williams first feature debut, she also did extremely well in her role of naive girlfriend. Catherine Keener is also an actor I already really like. She did great job at being the creepy mum, but I couldn’t stop picturing her as the girlfriend in 40 Year Old Virgin! LOL.

The way this was filmed, the set and props, and the musical score are all extremely well done and really help to build the tension. What I think was done really well in this was all the awkward conversations between the white people and the black boyfriend. It so well represented how white people have a sort of awkward phobia of saying something wrong in the presence of a person of a different race to us, and how some people’s mannerisms and language change because of a casual racism that’s found everywhere in the world.

Overall, this is a fantastic scary flick. It’s exciting, scary, funny, but also has few clever hidden meanings within its story and has a strong message on casual racism, black stereotypes, interracial relationships and systematic racism. This is Peele’s first writing and directing debut – I can’t wait to see what more he can come up with! I’m sure this must have been a difficult film to make and has been hit with a lot of negative responses, stating it’s a “reverse racism movie” but that’s really not the case, and if that’s something you feel about this film, you may be part of the big problem this film is trying to let on about. I may even be going to see this again, with my dad this time, because I loved it that much and he hasn’t got anyone else to go with!

P.S. I may have loved this movie even more because it started with a Childish Gambino song.