How do we follow up Hellraiser, one of the most notorious horror films from the 1980s? Well, with an absolute instant classic from this decade that just delivers the scares in spades. For today's entry, we are going back to 2019 and with a sophomore effort from a director who won an Academy Award with his first film.
Day 27 - Us
There is no denying that with Get Out, Jordan Peele crafted one of the most talked about thrillers of the past 20-30 years. A genuine phenomenon that discussed everything from race, class, body snatching, and then switched genres like crazy from horror, to social thriller, to even hints at science-fiction. So how do you follow up something like Get Out? The answer is by going the polar opposite and just lean into the horror angle even more. With Us, Peele tells the story of a family that is attacked by their doppelgangers and soon discover a much more sinister side to this. Get Out and Us are both horror classics, but Us just reaffirms Peele's status as a new master of the genre by crafting genuinely unsettling imagery (the first image of the Tethered is an all-timer), shocking revelations, and wildly disturbing ideas about the nation's obsession with success and the inequality amongst different social groups, among many others that become even more pronounced with repeat viewings. Us is one of those films, like The Shining, that completely reward the audience upon repeat viewings. Every time you watch it, you will notice something new and different. The cast is out of this world extraordinary with Lupita Nyong'o deliver a mega-watt performance that should've been nominated for Best Actress - it is a ridiculously great role that she gets to play - not only with Adelaide but also the Tethered version, Red. You also have the amazing Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in wonderful supporting turns. Us has a lot on its mind, which is maybe why some of the reaction when it first came out was a little bit more mixed, but it is nonetheless a masterpiece of horror cinema that is scary, insightful, and full of amazing filmmaking. If Get Out owes a lot to "body snatching" films and stories, then Us is a wondrous cocktail of genre influences like Jaws and C.H.U.D. but all filtered through Peele's own distinct voice and style. The idea of doppelgangers is one that is prone to great commentary in the genre world but Peele takes that notion further than anyone else by adding his macabre sense of humor, adding truly thought-provoking ideas about race, class, inequality, and the timeless existential horror of the mirror image. What do you truly see when you have someone who is the same version as you? Is Adelaide the good side? Or is she bad? What does the "shadow self" tell us about characters like Adelaide who have been through some type of trauma? What does this say about the way that the Tethered are portrayed as living underground and being ostracized and pushed aside by the surface dwellers? Peele studies all this and brings us into this world by crafting something that not only takes a mirror up to the U.S. and society but also humanity? Us is a lot of movie but it's a deeply fascinating watch that stands as a new horror classic - full of ideas, visuals, and characters that you won't forget. Plus, it has a ridiculously good score by Michael Abels and a great use of "You got 5 On It". If you missed this, then it is time to correct that because it is a stone-cold classic.
*All of the recommendations that we make can be found at the El Paso Public Library Catalog!
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