Get Out Review

 

        Happy Halloween, as always its been a unique experience seeing just how much the genre has changed in 100 years. When you study this for a grade, you could care less since it robs the fun of enjoying something that basically will dictate if you pass or not. That’s why after the fact, it’s something to feel humbled when seeing something grow and see just how much thought and care went into making these movies. People write them off since they’re either scary or just rubbish. To me, that’s what movies is all about. With that, to wrap up this spooky venture, here’s what I think of Get Out. 

1. Something Liberally Wicked This Way Comes

        I will admit that I didn’t have faith in this movie when it came out back in 2017. In fact, I heard about it since one of my professors had tickets to the movie if anyone of my classmates was interested in an extra credit. To me, it didn’t make sense how a comedian could helm a horror movie, much less direct a movie. My first exposure to Jordan Peele was through the Comedy Central show Key and Peele. The sketches were funny, and it wasn’t until that some sketches had dark endings that maybe Peele had some talent.

        So anyways, when this movie made its debut, the praise it got was unfathomable. People were praising it left and right, just for its originality and its subtext. And to this day, I regret not watching it when it came out. Now, I can appreciate just how great of a debut it was. It’s up there in terms of laying the foundation of a future legendary director with a voice. Those are called auteurs and Jordan Peele is one. 

        Now, what the heck is this one even about? To put it simply, we follow Chris and his girlfriend Rose as they travel to her parent’s home. Everything seems normal enough, until Chris sees that the maids don’t appear to be normal. From then on, he gets involved with a crazy scheme that if you told this to a group of police detectives, they’ll laugh at you. And that’s exactly what happened in the movie. 

        The film has a great balance between being a comedy and a horror movie. Comedy to break the tension and to really put in a smart character who knows that everything he’s seeing is completely out of left field. It gives it a refreshing feel that he knows what’s happening and is willing to investigate as to what’s really going on. His friend Rod steals the show when he tries to help. Despite him being portrayed as silly, he’s smart and manages to fool one of the antagonists. 

        Another thing about this movie is its subtle commentary. Ostensibly, it’s poking fun at the white Americans who are unintentionally racist but try to mean well when talking to black people. At first the Armitage Family are seemingly polite as they are welcoming when Rose introduces Chris. It’s not until that when there’s a party and the whole attendants speak highly of African Americans, that it’s all a sinister front. 

        How I see it is that it’s all hypocritical. Not to give away too much in terms of what the Armitage’s are doing, but they want to transplant their secret society’s brains into randomized black people. You can interpret it another way, as to how White America has appropriated music, or much of anything from their culture. The best scene is when Chris gets hypnotized, it’s the film’s best shot since it has a unique way of showing his out of body experience. 

2. Comedy to Horror Pipeline

        This is something I noticed in terms of the director. And it’s surprising that some directors with comedic backgrounds can do a great horror movie. To me it’s always refreshing for someone to flex their chops into something that can play into a comedic moment. Think about it, when thinking of something funny, you would sometimes think of the most messed up hilariously thing that you laugh it off. To others, it’s downright horrific. 

        As far as I know, there have been other directors to lend their hand into horror. One is with John Landis who made the comedic classic Animal House. He went on to direct An American Werewolf in London, while there are comedic moments, it’s mostly a horror movie. And just this year, the movie Barbarian was helmed by Zach Creggar. You may not know him individually, but he was part of the comedic group The Whitest Kids U’ Know.

        Lastly, the main important key for these films to work is to balance between the horror and comedy. While there is a sub-genre called Comedic Horror, the main difference in that is that the overall event happening to the characters is either comedic or hilarious. And sometimes it can be hokey on purpose or to the detriment for the character. I bring this up since there was a movie last year called Malignant from James Wan. An icon in horror, but ultimately made a movie where it came off as schlocky but people and fans where up and arms in terms of how to judge the film. 

 

3. Overall

        Get Out is one of the best original horror films of the late 2010s. It’s subtext intertwines with the horror and makes us be weary of the people we meet.