Thought-provoking chiller by director of Get Out sees a family terrorised by their evil doppelgangers
N HIS Oscar-winning horror Get Out, writerdirector Jordan Peele took a magnifying glass to race relations and exposed ugly blemishes in the face of present-day American society.
For his eagerly-awaited second feature, the filmmaker holds up a mirror and asks us to stare unblinking into the eyes of our distorted reflections.
Us is more bloodthirsty and physically punishing than its predecessor, obliquely referencing The Shining and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers as a family of four are held hostage by diabolical doppelgangers.
Peele’s script is laboriously specific about the back stories of the lead characters but he is frustratingly ambiguous when it comes to burnishing the nuts and bolts of the social commentary underpinning the slaughter.
You can read this battle royale as an allegor y about the oppression of an economic and political underclass, the fear of outsiders infiltrating our cosy suburban idylls or the war against terrorism.
Us is open to multiple interpretations, which should spark lively debate over the popcorn. Viewed purely as a misfit member of the horror genre, Peele’s picture is unsettling rather than white-knuckle terrifying.
Every stab or slash is telegraphed and the script’s coup de grace is evident by the chronologically fractured structure.
In 1986, when she was a little girl with pigtails, Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong’o) wandered into the Shaman’s Vision Quest attraction at Santa Cruz amusement park during a thunderous downpour. She glimpsed something unspeakable in the hall of mirrors.
Fast-for warding to the present, Adelaide is a fiercely protective mother to two children, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex).
She travels with husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and the kids to the family’s beach house to reconnect with friends Josh and Kitty Tyler (Tim Heidecker, Elisabeth Moss) and their twin daughters (Cali and Noelle Sheldon).
Late one night, Jason interrupts his mother with disturbing news : “There’s a family in our driveway.”
Gabe attempts to scare away the four shadowy figures with chest-puffing bravado and a baseball bat. His threats are hollow because the intruders are the Wilsons’ gnarled, scissor-wielding doppelgangers, Red (Nyong’o), Abraham (Duke), Umbrae (Wright Joseph) and Pluto (Alex).
Nyong ’o delivers tour-deforce performances that could earn her an Oscar nomination, while Duke provides fleeting comic relief. Wright Joseph and Alex impress in support.
Us is a stylish home invasion thriller, which lacks the persistent itch of Get Out after the end credits roll.
Double trouble: