Average horror movie with a couple of twists! 4/10

Rating: 4/10 (22 January 2020)

Review:
Although the director added some twists and turns to this psychological horror, I still struggled to find it interesting. The dragged out scenes became a bit ridiculous after a while, and the mirrored zombies were extremely odd, in a bad way. Lupita Nyong'o played both roles well, alongside her kids Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex), but her husband Gabe (Winston Duke), was completely useless. The scenes that are supposed to be horrific, weren't that frightening, but there is a sense of intensity, even though it's slightly predictable. The whole "2 worlds" theme was original but it was revealed a bit too late. With a lot of these horror movies set in small towns, it surprises me that other towns don't intervene, once they hear that there is a high death toll, mainly caused by Zombies. Anyway, the movie starts in 1986, was a young Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) goes on vacation with her parents to Santa Cruz. At the beach, she wanders off and enters a funhouse, where she encounters a "doppelgÃ¤nger" of herself in the hall of mirrors. In the present day, the adult Adelaide is haunted by memories of the encounter. She goes with her family to their house in Santa Cruz. She is apprehensive about the trip, but Gabe, eager to impress their rich friends Josh (Tim Heidecker) and Kitty Tyler (Elisabeth Moss), brushes off her misgivings. That night, a family of four dressed in red appears in the Wilson's driveway. They break into the house and attack them. The intruders are the Wilson's doppelgÃ¤ngers, led by Adelaide's double, Red. As she is the only one who can talk, Red explains that the doppelgÃ¤ngers are called the Tethered, who share a soul with their counterparts, and that they have come to "untether" themselves. She tells them the story of a girl who is loved and happy while her "shadow" remains in the dark, suffering. The family is separated by their doppelgÃ¤ngers, and Red makes Adelaide handcuff herself to a table. Zora is pursued by her double, Umbrae, and Gabe is pursued by Abraham, while Jason is sent to play with Pluto. Zora evades Umbrae and Gabe kills Abraham, while Jason discovers that Pluto mirrors his actions and locks him in the closet. Red is drawn away by Pluto's cries, allowing Adelaide to break free. The family regroups and escapes on their boat. Meanwhile, the Tyler family is murdered by their Tethered. The Wilsons arrive and are forced to kill the Tylers doubles. They turn on the news to see that the Tethered have been murdering their counterparts across the nation. When Zora drives the family away in the Tylers car, Umbrae attacks, but Umbrae is killed when thrown off the car. At the Santa Cruz boardwalk, the Wilsons find the road blocked by their own car, which has been set on fire. Pluto has set a trap for the Wilsons, standing over a gasoline trail with a match. Jason, remembering that Pluto imitates him, makes Pluto walk into the fire. Red abducts Jason. While Gabe recuperates from his wounds with Zora, Adelaide returns to the funhouse and finds a secret tunnel in the hall of mirrors. It leads to an underground facility overrun by rabbits, where she finds Red. Red explains that the Tethered are clones, created by the government to control their counterparts on the surface. When the experiment failed, the Tethered were abandoned underground for generations, mindlessly copying the actions of their counterparts until Red organised them to escape and take revenge. Red and Adelaide fight, with Red countering all of Adelaide's attacks. Will Adelaide kill Red and save her family, you have to watch the film to find out! Whenever you watch a horror movie, and the family is happy and jolly at the beginning, you just know that something bad is going to happen! In this case, it started mysteriously and then it jumps to the present day, so that made it different from most of the films in this genre. Once the doppelgÃ¤ngers kick in, it follows the horror guide book, until the end when the twist kicks in. As I'm not a fan of horror movies, I'm not the best person to comment on how good a film is in this genre. From a personal point of view, I found this film to be pretty average, in terms of entertainment, and the shock value was quite low. It's still worth a one-watch but it will be quickly forgotten. Average!
Round-Up:
This movie was written and directed by Jordan Peele, who also brought you Get Out in 2017. As an actor, he's starred in Little Fockers in 2010, Wanderlust and Keanu, which he also produced. He is mostly known for his comedic TV work, alongside Keegan-Michael Key, but after the popularity of Get Out, he has gained respect for his work behind the camera. With an Oscar for the best screenplay for Get Out, and a producer credit for the new Candyman, which is due to be released later this year, he must be pleased with the direction his career has taken so far, especially with the profits that his films have made.
Budget: $20million
Worldwide Gross: $255million
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Cast: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop, Cali Sheldon and Noelle Sheldon. 4/10