Us (2019)

Review

116min

Genre:       Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Director:    Jordan Peele

Cast:         Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Evan Alex…and more

Writer:      Jordan Peele

-Synopsis-

A young family’s picturesque vacation at their beach house turns into a nightmare and struggle for survival with the mysterious arrival of some sinister and relentless doppelgängers, leaving the matriarch fighting to protect her family from an unknown yet familiar foe, in this self-reflective horror from the unique mind of Jordan Peele.

Just over a year after a milestone-setting Oscar triumph, having captured world’s attention with his scarily perceptive and ‘woke’ indie horror ‘Get Out’, and with the added weight of now being presumptively dubbed a new horror master by some, American comedy favourite and now writer, director and producer extraordinaire Jordan Peele returns for his second directorial feature—a horrific family tale about the most terrifying enemy imaginable . . . ourselves.

Lupita Nyong’o stars as young matriarch ‘Adelaide Wilson’, an overprotective mother with emotional scars from childhood trauma, on a tranquil vacation with husband ‘Gabe’ (Winston Duke), teenage daughter ‘Zora’ (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and her younger brother ‘Jason’ (Evan Alex). But when this beachside holiday at her former childhood haunts stirs up painful memories, coinciding with the appearance of a savage family which looks just like them, the Wilsons are plunged into a gruesome fight for survival which puts their very identity into question, and threatens to turn the world upside down.

Whereas Peele’s debut was a wonderfully daring and inventive, deeply socially conscious and culturally relevant psychological horror, his second directorial effort is a more traditional down-the-line horror/thriller, albeit a socially perceptive one itself—with an unexpectedly strong comedy element and a mystery angle bridging the two films. And much like in ‘Get Out’, identity is the key theme of this film, and a seeming preoccupation for its director . . . as it is for so many people these days.

Yet even though ‘Us’ delivers a broader, more general and less refined social message, it still has plenty to say about . . . well us. Whether it’s the more overt story about the revenge of our shadows, the dark and neglected animalistic side in all of us which grows resentful while it remains tethered to the rest, or as a parable about the US in particular and capitalism in general, which creates an exploitative parasitic relationship between the ruling classes and the underclass from which they profit. Or even as a more timely commentary on the puppet-masters and powers-that-be who use our nature and our darkest impulses to control and influence us.

The runaway success of Peele’s first feature proved that you can make a thematic, creative and hugely stylish horror picture with little practical experience but plenty of love for the genre, a  daring vision and outstanding filmmaking instincts . . . not to mention the right support, and a wider hunger for terrifying stories told from a different social perspective. And ‘Us’ runs with this notion, as Peele expertly crafts a blend of stalker, home invasion and body-snatching horror, mixed with piercing moments of expertly delivered hilarity, all shaped with cultural references which span the 80s and 90s through to the present day.

‘Us’ delivers great moments of people being brutally dispatched in wonderfully middle-class ways, occasionally to comedic effect, while the costume and production designs result in some instantly iconographic images and looks for the more sinister characters. Meanwhile the film’s music creates the atmosphere and sets the mood, with Peele opting for a classic string-heavy ‘Golden Age Hollywood’ thriller score from Michael Abels (Get Out) which gets progressively more jarring, combining it with a selective soundtrack of mostly 80s and 90s hip hop—wonderfully blending the two to create an ominous version of  ‘I Got 5 on It’ by the Luniz which serves as the main theme of the film.

Yet despite its style and clever constituent components, ‘Us’ just doesn’t have the thematic and cultural impact of Jordan Peele’s debut . . . and the added expectation doesn’t help. While ‘Get Out’ delivered a bold and brilliant parabolic dissection of being black in the United States and the questionable role of liberal, middle-class white America—this feels more broad, open to interpretation, and less sure about what it wants to say, working on a more visceral but less cerebral and emotional level.

This isn’t exactly the scariest or most terrifying indie horror you’re likely to see either, avoiding too many cheap jump-scares and often punctuating the horror with humour, ultimately not doing enough to demand butts be constantly clenched and leaving our nerves largely unshredded.

But there’s no denying that Peele’s sophomore effort excels at the human level, thanks largely to the performances of the foursome playing the main family, whose depiction as a family like every other—and not specifically an African-American one— around which the film is set, is something of a progressive milestone in horror film and genre cinema. And that family is brought to life by the actors who pull double-duty playing both the acceptable and savage sides of their characters, with ‘Black Panther’ alumnus Winston Duke as the dad with subtle ‘Homer Simpson’ undertones and the two younger actors excelling as the children who are game for what’s to come.

Ultimately though ‘Us’ largely revolves around Lupita Nyong’o and her two characters, as the Oscar winner gets a new cinematic playground to shine in and unleashes both her terrified and ominous sides, contributing to a mini parable about the lingering effect of childhood trauma and the perpetual shadow it can cast over us—helping Peele to deliver a creepy meditation on the duality of man, and most importantly a majorly entertaining and unsettling family horror . . . with a final sting in the tail.

The Bottom Line…

Jordan Peele expertly solidifies his reputation as a horror master contender with an unsettling, self-reflective and uniquely funny take on the home invasion, body-snatching horror. And while it may not deliver as culturally daring or socially succinct a message as his debut, or prove as nerve-shredding or genuinely scary as we hoped, ‘Us’ will still creep you out and tickle your funny bone, while having plenty to say about our nature and the world we live in—and doing it all in style.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Get Out (2017)

When a young black man heads on a trip to meet his white girlfriend’s well-to-do family, his only concern seems to be whether he’ll be accepted by them—but when it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems in the quiet suburbs, he’ll have much more to worry about in this racially-charged, ultra-creepy horror directorial debut from one half of the comedy team of Key & Peele.

Directed by Jordan Peele and starring Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams and Bradley Whitford among others.

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