Review #1,205: 'Get Out' (2017)

The warning comes early on in Get Out, comedian Jordan Peele's deliciously unsettling horror and directorial debut. As successful New York photographer Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) phones his best friend Rod (a hilarious LilRel Howery) to break the news that he is to meet his white girlfriend's middle-class parents at their countryside home, Rod immediately voices his concerns. He is adamant that there is bound to be some weird, sex-slave shit going down, but Chris laughs it off with no idea with what is in store for him. In years to come, I have no doubt that Get Out will be a key case study in trying to understand the racial minefield that is modern America. While many have convinced themselves that such medieval attitudes are now behind them, it's quite clear that tensions are as high as ever in the #BackLivesMatter, post-Obama world we live in.

On their journey, Chris and his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) hit a deer. When being questioned by the police, the white officer can't resist giving Chris a hard time, even though he wasn't the one driving. He receives a telling-off from Rose, but the tone is set. Chris shrugs it off because he is no doubt used to it. Upon arriving at the impressive home of the potentially future in-laws, father and neurosurgeon Dean (Bradley Whitford) insists they are 'huggers', and appears to embrace Chris. He nonetheless lets slip opinions about wiping out the race of pesky deer who roam their land and voices his frustration at his own father missing out on the Olympic Games due to Jesse Owens, but again this is nothing Chris hasn't seen before from middle-class, white Obama-voters. Rose's mother Missy (Catherine Keener) is more steely, but is a trained hypnotist and offers to help Chris rid himself of his nicotine addiction. So far, so uncomfortable, but things soon get seriously weird.

For such apparently racially-blind liberals, their household staff are all black. Not only that, but they are like dead-eyed robots, all smiles and pleasantries masking pleading and inner turmoil. When Chris tries to bond with groundskeeper and fellow brother Walter (Marcus Henderson), the conversation is awkward and stiff, and maid Georgina (the brilliant Betty Gabriel) seems to do little during her off-hours but stare at herself in the mirror. At a gathering at their home, the only black face in the large crowd seems unnervingly familiar, but he is dressed up like a trophy pet by his fat, much older white wife. When Missy finally gets Chris to sit down for a session and open up about the death of his mother, his worst fears are truly realised. Taking inspiration from, of all films, Being John Malkovich (which also starred Keener), Peele directs these moments with the eye of a horror maestro, proving to be truly uncomfortable, claustrophobic viewing.

Get Out wears its heart on its sleeve, with an almost complete disregard for subtlety. However, this works in the film's favour. It's hugely entertaining and frequently very funny, so it will appeal to just about any audience, reaching more people in the process. Word-of-mouth has already gotten around, so the message is clearly resonating. It's sharp and unique in a way that modern horror movies rarely are, and in no way feels like an elongated sketch from the Key and Peele TV show. Although I've seen relatively little of his work outside of sketches on YouTube and his appearance with Keegan-Michael Key in season 1 of Fargo, there is nothing in his previous output to suggest he was capable of crafting such an intelligent and engaging horror movie. Satirically savvy and edgy, Get Out is also creepy and thoughtful, proving that a black man alone in the white suburbs is just as terrifying as a pretty white girl lost in the woods.


Directed by: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, LilRel Howery, Stephen Root, Betty Gabriel
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie