Racism is Scary, Get Out is Not

Rating: 4/10 (27 March 2017)

I finished watching Get Out over 2 hours ago, but something has been bothering me since the credits rolled. A sort of unpleasant, irritated feeling that I couldn't really put my finger on until now. My biggest complaint about this horror film is that it's not actually as scary as the real life social problems it constantly hammers the viewer over the head with. It's campy jump scares and unbelievable premise, drown out the anti-racist message it could have had. In that way, it fails both as a horror movie and constructive social commentary.
Most quality horror movies take real life events and intensify them to create something terrifying but relatable. The Shining was much scarier than my trip to Colorado. The Blair Witch Project was more intense than my last hike. Psycho was slightly more unnerving than my last stay at a motel.
Modern racism and the history of slavery are among the most disturbing and evil aspects of the human experience and something countless people suffer from daily. It is real and it is scary. So why add B-movie brain swaps and fortune-teller hypnosis? Why base the story on a cheesy fictional premise instead of something that actually happens? Why make all but two of the characters completely one dimensional? (Keep in mind, that Chris and his friend are the only characters in the film with both a conscience and their original brain, all others are lacking one or the other). Why does a flashing light reverse brain transplants? Why would a racist white family, lure black men to them by using their own daughter as a sex object? The answer to all these questions is lazy writing.
If you want to create a jarring horror movie rife with social commentary about racism at least root it in reality. Sadly, past and present, there is no lack of inspiration. I get that this movie is a very heavy handed allusion to slavery, but of all the awful things white people have done to black people, goofy brain swapping business isn't one of them.
I don't get why this movie has such overwhelmingly positive reviews. The cinematography and acting were good, but the plot was trite, compared to all the different directions they could have taken it. The idea of a racially charged horror movie with a black protagonist and white ghouls sounds really interesting (why I wanted to see it), but Get Out just takes that idea and slaps it onto a 50's B-flick.