A rare horror movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, 2017’s Get Out, written and directed by Jordan Peele, fuses its slow-burner tale with creepy atmosphere, relevant social commentary and touches of comedy, making it so much more than just a straight-forward horror flick.
With a story somewhat reminiscent of The Stepford Wives, protagonist Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya – an Oscar nominated performance) is an up and coming photographer, an African American twenty-something living a fulfilling life in the big city. In a loving relationship with Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) for the past five months, she has decided to bring him home to meet the folks – a weekend trip that is not exactly the most enticing scenario for the man.
Not bothering to warn her parents that he is black. . . after all, her father voted for Obama twice (and would have a third time if that was an option), the couple make the trek out to the countryside. Meeting her hospitable parents, neurosurgeon Dean (Bradley Whitford) and psychiatrist Missy (Catherine Keener), as well as their wild-card son, Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones), all seems copasetic, though something feels just a bit off.
A prime example of the ominous blank stare – courtesy of the family maid, Georgina (Betty Gabriel)
Perhaps it is that they have a groundskeeper (Marcus Henderson) and maid (Betty Gabriel) that are African American – their blank stares and otherworldly demeanor do not help things, or that the parents’ behaviour is off-putting in that it feels falsely genial, in any case, Chris has a feeling in his gut that all is not right.
Learning that their arrival just happens to be at the same time as a big shindig the married couple throw each year, Chris finds himself a black man surrounded by the most WASPish group around, though they all awkwardly reference his race in a cool context (Tiger Woods, etc.). Finding one other young black man, he soon learns that Andre (Lateith Stanfield), who is dressed in attire reminiscent of an octogenarian apiarist, is probably the whitest black dude around (dismaying, much like all of the other African Americans he has met since arriving). At least blind partygoer Jim Hudson (Stephen Root), a gallery owner, speaks to him like a person (discussing his photography) rather than being the rare spectacle who has been put on display for the guests.
Before moving too far into my synopsis, I’d like to talk a little bit about the atmosphere. Get Out opens with a superlative pre-credits sequence that is somewhat separate from the rest of the narrative. . . an extended, suspense-filled single take shot that shows a black man, who is lost in a picturesque neighbourhood late one night, abducted by a stranger in a passing car – its tone and setting somewhat similar to the opening of the original Halloween, by John Carpenter. A masterclass in thrilling camera-work, that jarring moment sticks with you, building as other bizarre happenings continue to pop into Chris’ life. On the way to the rural home, the pair hit a deer. Chris is haunted by it, as it stirs some emotion from the recesses of his brain, while it is also symbolic of his situation to come. After arriving, a multitude of things tingle his spidey-sense – his phone is continuously unplugged when charging, he has disturbing nightmares, and he believes Missy has brainwashed him to stop smoking. These things, along with everyone’s peculiar behaviour (all of this feeding into the unnerving atmosphere), eventually pushes Chris to do as the title suggests. . . after all, he is not your prototypical horror movie dummy who does not have a clue (he calls his ever suspicious TSA buddy Rod Williams for advice throughout – LilRel Howery lightens the mood with nice touches of humour). . . but is it too late to ‘GET OUT’?
Having all of the puzzle pieces to make a solid film, each element, be it script, direction, cinematography, music (though at times a touch too close to something one might hear in a demonic horror movie), and acting, is top notch (and, for the most part, the puzzle is complete). Kaluuya, usually heard with a thick British accent, is wholly believable as the fish out of water American. Nailing every emotion, his predicament is our own, as everything is told from his perspective. Surrounded by a confounding bunch of individuals, we are unsure of who to trust, as everyone seems to be suspicious.
Touching on such topics as racism, racial profiling, slavery, envy, as well as so much more, Get Out has had people talking ever since it was released. Also filled with paranoid fears of ‘the other’, it speaks to human mistrust, it satirizing human nature and suggesting that we can most definitely do better. So, sink into this mystery thriller to discover how it has bucked the trend of ‘horror films’ not being nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
I had absolutely no expectations as I sat watching this film, so I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the script, twists and acting, (especially that of the main character played by Daniel Kaluuya) The ending was disappointing as they relied on the typical, over-the-top, Hollywood chestnut, which did not mesh well with the rest of this subtle and interesting film, though I enjoyed the experience very much in spite of it.