Sommerleigh Pollonais – Horror Head Writer
DAY 24
Movie: Get Out (2017)
Plot: A young African-American man visits his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.
Review: Cue Redbone by Childish Gambino! Sorry, I just love that song, but so did Jordan Peele as he decided to use the hit tune as his opening theme for his directorial debut turned instant hit, Get Out.
Stay woke. These words take on significant meaning, not just in the song it’s from, but in Get Out as well. Because this is just the beginning of the hidden symbols, images and themes that unfold in this ode to classic psychological horror films like Rosemary’s Baby and The Stepford Wives.
Daniel Kaluuya (Black Panther) stars as Chris, a young African American who is nervous about meeting his girlfriend Rose’s (Allison Williams from Girls/The Perfection) parents. It’s always stressful meeting your significant other’s folks, but Chris is doubly nervous because he’s black and his girlfriend, well, she isn’t. If only poor Chris knew colour was going to be the LEAST of his problems!
Shout out to Rose’s mother, Missy Armitage, played to perfection by Catherine Keener. She portrays Missy with loads of intelligence and a touch of subtle menace that I loved. She’s the venus fly trap of this family, inviting you into her warm deadly embrace. Keener might’ve been my personal favourite, but all of the main cast add to the film in positive ways. Just another reason Get Out was the fan favourite of 2017.
The true brilliance of this film was the way Jordan Peele unfolds moments that walk the line between racist and maybe just ignorant, and infuse them with just enough menace to make the viewer uneasy. We know something isn’t quite right here, but it’s difficult to put your finger on it. The same can be found in real life. Moments where you and a friend might look back on something that happened and ask yourself “Was that prejudice? Or am I just being overly sensitive?” Society forces us to be polite and logical in situations where maybe, just maybe, your instincts are correct and you should (DUN! DUN! DUN!) Get Out! I’m here all week folks.
Get Out is an exaggerated but perfectly executed take on cultural appropriation. It’s whitewashing taken to absurdist levels. Equal parts hilarious and horrific, Jordan Peele’s talents as a comedic actor and writer come through well enough, but it’s his surprising ability to deliver a well-crafted horror movie that felt fresh and surprisingly original that really catches you off guard.
While inspiration was taken from other films, Get Out is without a doubt one of the most original horror movies of the modern era. Peele said he set out to make a movie unlike anything he had seen before and I would argue, he absolutely pulled it off.
Sommer’s Score: 8 out of 10
So are you a fan of Get Out? For part 23 of 31 Days of Horror and my review of Train to Busan you can click here. And for more than 100 horror movie reviews and lists you can check out the RMR horror section here.
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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