Societal satire serves up scares
Get Out (15)
A black man walking in the suburbs is pursued by the whitest-looking car you’ll ever see, with jaunty tune Run Rabbit Run blaring from its sound system, before he meets a nasty end.
Right from this arresting opening scene, it’s clear that Get Out is not your typical, run-ofthe-mill horror movie.
Coming from the mind – and pen – of comic actor Jordan Peele, it maybe shouldn’t be a great surprise that genre conventions are thrown out of the window, but the New Yorker’s directorial debut is that finest of beasts – a horror film with a message.
Daniel Kaluuya stars as leading man Chris Washington, an African-American taken to his white girlfriend Rose’s (Allison Williams) family estate to be introduced to her parents, Missy (Catherine Keener) and Dean (Bradley Whitford).
It soon becomes clear that all is not well with a series of bizarre encounters putting Chris on edge... and to say much more would ruin the sinister surprise.
Peele’s memorable flick is like Meet the Parents-meets-Mississippi Burning and his brilliantly thought out script highlights white supremacy with a difference as awkward questions and outrageous suggestions make Chris feel like he’s living in another century.
There’s no masked killer chasing scantilyclad teenagers here; this is horror of a more thought-provoking nature that strikes at the very heart of societal subculture.
But that’s not to say Peele doesn’t know how to bring the fear. From menacing use of a tea cup and the world’s most disturbing game of bingo to eerie sound design led by Michael Abels’ string-heavy music, genre fans aren’t shortchanged.
It’s more of an uncomfortable sort of dread that drips throughout, though, as Rose’s parents – especially a clearly-hiding-something Keener – and creepy brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones) do more with too-happy smiles, ‘welcoming’ gestures and dinner table sportthemed chat than any axe-wielding maniac chasing after Chris ever could.
Kaluuya gives a wonderful performance that progresses from polite in the face of provocation smiles and knowing glances to fullblown terror and Girls’ star Williams – making her big screen bow – impresses too in a role and Williams cosy up that requires much more than you’d originally think.
Peele’s comedic background comes to the fore with genuinely funny beats undercutting the tension – led by LilRel Howery’s straighttalking loudmouth Rod.
His storyline twists are effective and surprising and the film transforms into something very different during the latter stages.
While he borrows from other horrors, it’s a tribute to the quality of Peele’s writing and directing that Get Out is still unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
The year’s other genre contenders will do well to better this virtuoso nailbiting satire.