Get Out

Chris, a young African/American man, is concerned about the reception he will recieve when travelling to his white girlfriend Rose's parents house to meet her family for the first time. During his stay a series of strange events unravel a mystery that show his concerns may have been justified all along.

STORY/PLOT

Get Out is a well written, brilliantly paced breath of fresh air. Jordan Peele brings an original and unique story that is both twisted and intriguing. The entire way through this movie you are drip fed clues and shown increasingly odd and messed up events that have you both enthralled and unnerved. I found myself fully engrossed throughout partly because Get Out is so well paced and written, but also because it kept the mystery alive until the big reveal of what is really going on, and what is going on is mental. Essentially Rose and her brother bring people of African/American decent back to her parents property, both by different means, so that rich white people can bid to have their brain and consciousness placed in an African/American body. They are harvesting black people for their superior physical bodies. Even with everyone seemingly obsessed with Chris for one of his 'superior traits' I didn't see that coming, so the twist really hits. It also has a satisfying end to top it all off. Violence and gore is completely absent throughout until that last 20 minutes of the film, until Chris rampages his way to freedom. Here it gets quite brutal, using a taxidermied buck head to multi skewer a man to death is very inventive, definitely on the list of top ways a character gets done in. Brilliant stuff.

ACTING/CHARACTERS

An all rounder. All characters are likeable or hateable and well acted. Daniel Kaluuya who plays Chris was class, always found myself rooting for him. Allison Williams was brilliant, seamlessly transitioning from a bubbly loving girlfriend to soulless and composed nutter. Calen Landry Jones as Rose's brother Jeremy really came across as unhinged from the get go and a shout out to Lil Rel Howery as Chris's best friend Rod, while not the most prominent character brought some comedy throughout and still managed to be one of my favourites.

CINEMATOGRAPHY/VISUALS

Some really good work on show here that adds to the atmosphere and tension. The setting is good, it feels isolated and the camera work often feels like you're looking through Chris's eyes, it often snaps to that perspective when he notices somebody watching him, which in turn makes you feel like you're being watched. The combination of those two elements I think really helped set this creepy, uncomfortable atmosphere of never feeling safe. The scene where Chris steps outside in the middle of the night for a cigarette and the camera pans across the property to see the grounds keeper sprinting at him full speed through the dark was seriously anxiety inducing. I also thought the sunken place was really well done, giving the feeling of being trapped in a deep dark hole, helpless and unable to escape, and knowing it's permanent if the family succeed in their plans is a grim fate.

SOUNDTRACK/AUDIO

The music in this movie is used to great effect to further elevate fear and anxiety. The sudden sharp high pitch twangs of a violin can be a useful tool in inducing shock on the watcher it would seem, and it's implemented masterfully. The soundtrack is also excellent in building atmosphere and tension. A mix of folky cult like music, threnody and mysterious dark ambient tracks with some sort of gospel vocals thrown in here and there.

OVERALL

Get Out is a masterful debut from Jordan Peele and an all round amazing horror movie. With a fresh original story and completely well rounded direction in every aspect, for me it stands somewhere near the top with the all time greats of the genre. An easy reccomendation not just to horror fans, but all movie fans alike.