‘Get Out’ Blends Horror, Thrills, and Satire To Near-Perfection

When news broke that experienced comedian Jordan Peele of Key & Peele fame would be making his feature film directorial debut, I’m sure the bulk of his audience were expecting a laugh-filled romp akin to his 2015 film Keanu. Instead he surprisingly delivered a brilliant horror-thriller based on interracial relationships and the uncomfortable interactions between blacks and whites.

Get Out follows Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) as he travels with his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), to her family estate to meet her parents, Dean (Bradley Whitford) and Missy (Catherine Keener). Upon arriving though, it’s obvious something is not right and the movie unravels into a mind-bending thrill ride.

Going into the movie, I expected things to veer more towards humor, Peele’s well-known specialty, about the many awkward situations that can occur during relations between people of different races. If the movie had gone that way, I’m sure I would’ve been satisfied with what would’ve ended up as a more than decent comedy. But I am very happy that the end product did the exact opposite, focusing more on creating a horror narrative and a terrifying world for the main character to exist in.

By setting the majority of the movie outside of the city, in the middle of seemingly nowhere, it allows the audience to believe the fiction it crafts. This is a place where African-Americans can be noticeably absent. This is a place where acts such as hypnotism can be more easily accepted. It tells the audience, yes, this is not a true story, but instead connects us to the story through it’s characters.

Kaluuya is perfect as Chris, a great first big starring role, at least this side of the Atlantic. First making a name for himself on the teen drama series Skins, and also appearing in Denis Villeneuve’s cartel masterpiece Sicario, it was his starring role in an episode of the horror-anthology series Black Mirror that really made me pay attention to him. In arguably the most heartbreaking episode of the whole series to this point, it was his ability to have absolute control and to, at the drop of a dime, break from that dominance that made him such an obvious talent. He displays those acting chops numerous times in Get Out and the movie is all the better for it.

The supporting cast around him, his girlfriend and her family, are also superb. Allison Williams, who I’ve enjoyed for years now on the hit HBO series Girls, is sweet and charming and isn’t cast aside as a simple love interest. She’s well fleshed out, but is also absent enough to keep the focus on Chris, as it should. Keener and Whitford are perfect and completely believable as parents who are obviously uneasy while trying to still be as accommodating as possible. They also carry a quiet intensity that allows for easy manipulation, from them and to them. Are they really bad or is it an intense imagination run wild based on internal tensions? The characters make us wonder, along with Chris, that as the film builds in potency. And even when it is revealed to the audience, we sit in anticipation of when it’ll come to our protagonist, and that excitement is a whole other sensation.

On top of being an excellent horror-thriller, the satire I expected from the film is still present and is a knockout most of the time. Whether it’s banter between Chris and Rose or Dean’s attempts at relating to Chris, I found myself hysterically laughing on multiple occasions. My one minor issue with the film though comes from the inclusion of Lil Rey Howery’s character Rod, Chris’ friend. Howery is a very talent comedian who I enjoy watching on one of my favorite sitcoms, The Carmichael Show, and as expected, he’s hilarious here. The problem is though that nearly every time the movie turns it’s attention to him, it feels completely out of place, especially in the third act when the movie grinds to a halt and follows the events of his character for way longer than it needed to. Yes, his character is ultimately necessary to the story, but I feel like a bulk of his scenes could’ve been shortened or even left out, and the movie would’ve been better for it. Despite being messy, I still loved his scenes. They’re some of the funniest of the movie and they never pulled me out to the point to where I ever felt like I wasn’t enjoying whatever was going on on-screen.

Get Out also boasts swell bit roles from Stephen Root and Lakeith Stanfield. Toby Oliver’s cinematography switches effortlessly between feelings of lonesomeness and claustrophobia. And Peele’s writing and direction are outstanding, advancing the tradition carried by The Babadook, It Follows, and The Witch of smart, modern horror films that don’t rely on the popular slasher techniques audiences are accustomed to and instead putting a more psychological bend on their subjects and slyly relaying messages about pressing issues like depression, sexually transmitted diseases, and now race relations. Ultimately, the greatest praise goes to Peele’s riskiness, covering such a controversial topic. Racism is a horror that many can’t escape and to put it out there in a way that entertains while leaving enough of a bread trail that hopefully opens a few eyes is something that very few could pull off, let alone as miraculously as Peele has with this modern masterpiece.