A BLOODY TAKE ON SOCIAL COMMENTARY
Brandy McDonnell gives us her take on “US,” which opens this weekend
R 1:56 4 out of 4 stars
Jordan Peele delivers his sharp social commentary with bloodied scissors in “Us,” his terrifying and thought-provoking new horror movie.
The writer-director follows his socially conscious 2017 blockbuster “Get Out,” for which he won a best original screenplay Oscar, by crafting an even more ambitious, frightening and twisty thriller.
“Us” opens in 1986 as young Adelaide Wilson (Madison Curry) wanders off at a boardwalk carnival and has a horrifying experience.
In the present day, Adelaide (the fantastic Lupita Nyong'o, her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and their children Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex) are heading to their California summer home. But Adelaide becomes agitated when Gabe arranges to meet their friends the Tylers — conspicuous consumers Josh (Tim Heidecker), Kitty (Elisabeth Moss) and their twin daughters (Cali and Noelle Sheldon) — on the same beach where she experienced her childhood trauma.
Bizarre coincidences culminate in the Wilsons coming face to face with a family of disturbing doppelgangers brandishing golden scissors they intend to use.
Like “Get Out,” “Us” is so much more than your standard horror flick. Twisting and turning through a daring plot, the movie makes keen observations about American life, including the gulf between the haves and have-nots and the fear of outside threats instead of internal enemies.
But Peele takes a more subtle and scattershot tact for “Us,” offering incisive commentary on
parenthood, childhood, consumerism and more that will keep moviegoers talking for hours after the film ends — and enough indelibly creepy moments that the icy chills will still be gripping them hours later, too.