Get in

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2018)

It's been about one whole year since Jordan Peele's Get Out was unleased onto cinemas and I've only just managed to see it! I call myself a seasoned horror fan but why on Earth did it take me so long to see a four-time Oscar nominated horror film? You know it has to be special when the Academy (who famously shun all genre movies) consider giving it a gong for Best Picture. After all, Get Out is the first all-out horror film to be nominated in the category since The Exorcist in 1973. Unless you decide to count the likes of Black Swan and The Silence of the Lambs which have elements of horror but are no where near as obvious as this film.
Is it all that superior then? Personally I think we've seen better recently in films such as The Witch and It Follows, but there's no denying that it's a cut above the rest. It's certainly far more intelligent than most films nowadays, which the Academy miraculously realised after awarding it an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay last night. It follows black British star Daniel Kaluuya as he goes to meet his white girlfriend's parents at their large middle-class home. Everything seems fine a first but gradually things start to take a sinister turn as some very white guests arrive and seem to almost close in on our black hero. To say anything else would be to ruin the terrific surprises in store, I went in knowing almost nothing about the plot and was certainly all the better for it.
Get Out takes a simple horror movie premise and turns it into a thoughtful and scarily plausible satire about racism. What's nice is that it doesn't shove it down our throats in a ham-fisted way like say, Mother! (which I loved, I must say) but there's stuff for keener viewers to dig in to. It never patronises its audience and is always interested in building up a sense of paranoia and suspense around a likable protagonist who we can all root for. It also manages to provide an exciting third act which manages to satisfy and thrill in equal measure.
It's difficult to believe that this is Jordan Peele's debut film. The technical competence is pretty outstanding, although he has had plenty of experience starring in film and TV before so he must've learned something about being behind the camera whilst being in front of it! He shows great flair and vision behind the camera, always remaining focused and expertly building tension. Where most directors would go in for the heavy-handed approach, Peele uses subtlety and restraint. Even the barmy revelation is presented with such confidence, that you don't doubt the logic for a second.
Get Out might not be the ground-breaking classic you were hoping for, but it's certainly a fine horror film with enough comedy to comfortably cleanse your pallet. Despite always having its tongue in cheek, it carries an important message about liberal racism and does an excellent job at making the audience feel what it's like to be a black man in modern America. The ending perhaps could've been less predictable and convenient, but Get Out offers plenty of hidden riches in repeated viewings.