I always say that horror and comedy have a very thin divide between them. In both genres, you are trying to get an extreme reaction out of your audience, whether it be laughs or screams. This may be why writer/director Jordan Peele, half of the comedy duo Key & Peele, was able to make such a smart and well-executed horror/comedy.
Get Out has a simple premise. A black man falls a white girl, and goes to meet her family. He is nervous about her family's reaction due to the fact that his girlfriend has never dated a black man. As he goes from his comfortable urban setting to the country bumpkin locale of her family's home, he begins to feel unsettled by her family's attitude, and the behavior of all of the African Americans in the area. There are multiple ways in which Jordan Peele deals with modern racism that incredibly intelligent.
Some of the all-time great horror films have dealt with race as a subtext. Both Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of Dead have subliminal racial contexts that take some reading into. Get Out brings race issues into the forefront as the central conflict of the plot. As we of course understand, racism has quite changed since 1968 and 1978, when the first two Dead movies were made. In Get Out, the subtle racism of modern is depicted. The details of this film are what make it executed so well. Throughout the film, small little allusions to stereotypes to slavery are a constant throughout the film, if you are perceptive enough to pick up on them. Peele said that he wanted to make a movie we would all want to watch twice, and he definitely succeeded with his precise placements of minuscule, but important details. Many times, statements we make, we truly do not believe they are racist, even though we are trying to connect and relate to another human being. This film brings these to the forefront, to be examined by its audience. also, the film challenges the stereotypical role of the African American man in the horror movie and tries to change this context within the bounds of the film.
What really helps Get Out is getting Oscar and Golden Globe nominees like Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford, as well as rising stars like Allison Williams and Lakeith Stanfield in your horror movie. Many times, studios are just concerned about how they can make a movie for as small of a budget as possible so they can maximize profit. The studio is not concerned usually how good the movie is, as long as it makes money. these shoe string budgets usually do not have the room for great talent in front of, or behind the camera. Maybe Get Out can prove to studios that this talent is necessary to make the horror film great again. as a sidenote, I love that some old white studio heads had to approve a lashing criticism of the subtle racism of white people. Viscerally, it appeals to me for some reason.
Get Out has put itself among the all-time horror greats while being intellectually engaging, and roaringly funny. This probably the best horror comedy since Cabin in the Woods. If a movie makes you hate the ways of the race you were born as by the time the credits role, it has succeeded in its purpose.
One thing I wanted to do differently with this review is try a contest. For every share or retweet of this review, I will enter your name in a chance to win a $10 Fandango gift card to see Get Out! So get out and share the review, and you have a chance to win!
Score (8.7/10)
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