There’s a great, often under-appreciated, history of social commentary within the horror genre. From John Carpenter’s politically charged They Live to Bryan Forbes’ haunting adaptation of The Stepford Wives, Ira Levin’s icy take on the male fear of second-wave feminism, scares and satire used to arrive simultaneously. But somewhere along the way, that tradition has been jump-shocked out of its seat, popcorn flying, and replaced with vapidity, an impatient teenage audience force-fed predictable thrills over a story that might provoke or inspire debate.
Jordan Peele doesn’t want to make things easy for his audience. Like the greatest sketches from his co-authored Comedy Central show Key & Peele, his new film Get Out is designed to lift the facade of post-racial America and showcase the ugliness that lies beneath. What’s quite astounding is not only how sharply he manages this but that he does so while also crafting a terrifying horror film.
Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is understandably nervous. His girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), is taking him home to meet her parents for the first time. It’s a frightening rite of passage for anyone, but Chris has an added level of concern: he’s black and she’s white. Rose brushes off his worry, assuring him that he has nothing to fear and initially, it seems like she’s right. Her father (Bradley Whitford) is perhaps a bit too self-consciously woke (“I would have voted for Obama for a third term” he insists) and her psychiatrist mother a bit too keen to hypnotize him out of his smoking habit, but they’re friendly and seemingly unperturbed by his race.
But Chris starts to feel uncomfortable. There’s something up with the other black people in the house: a rather spooked groundskeeper and maid. Why are they acting so strange? Why is Rose’s mother so obsessed with hypnotizing him? And why the hell are all these white people suddenly descending on the house?
While writer-director Peele could have taken the easier, oft-trodden route of exposing the racism of redneck hillbillies, he’s decided to target the underlying bigotry of rich liberals instead and, in doing so, has made something fiercely original. The white people Chris encounters wouldn’t consider themselves racists but name-checking Jesse Owens doesn’t give one a free pass. Referring to how well-endowed Chris must be or how his “genetic makeup” would make him a “beast” in a fight aren’t compliments, they’re reductive and offensive stereotypes that only serve to make him feel uncomfortable and fetishized.
As these micro-incidents stack up, Chris’ experience becomes a microcosm of what many black people experience in the US and beyond: telling someone that they’re welcome is different from actually welcoming someone. While the mechanics of the nefarious plot that’s ultimately uncovered might be a tad silly, they’re grounded by the uneasy journey that we’ve taken to get there. The grotesquery of the white suburbanites might seem exaggerated at times but there’s an embarrassingly well-observed truth to the interactions we see and Peele’s comedic background ensures that nervous laughter is never too far away.
But Peele isn’t interested in purely making a point, he’s also determined to make a genuinely scary horror film and doesn’t disappoint. There’s a refreshing lack of tired jump scares with Peele instead utilizing a queasy atmosphere of dread and a terrifically choreographed escalation of suspense and crowd-pleasing thrills. It’s an artfully framed and remarkably accomplished debut film, and Peele has carefully cast an ensemble of skilled actors who effortlessly conjure up a believably fraught dynamic. There’s a successful piece of stunt casting with Williams, a star of HBO’s Girls, but her white privilege isn’t over-egged and instead, her character seems even more shocked at what unfolds around them. It’s in smart opposition to the British actor Kaluuya, who, in a star-making role, calmly and glumly accepts the insidious racism around him before letting rage take over.
Get Out is a provocative, button-pushing shocker that buries itself under your skin and lingers, its genre trappings serving as devious delivery for a scathing takedown of liberal white suburbia. It’s rare for a studio horror film to feel this fresh and daring and it’s arrived at a frighteningly topical moment for a country where racism is scarier than ever.
• Get Out is released in US cinemas on 24 February and in UK cinemas on 17 March
