Woken Up and Scared 'OUT' of The Sunken Place

GET OUT
dir. Jordan Peele 

     I missed GET OUT when it first came out in theaters last February as I was patiently awaiting the releases of LOGAN and The Shack. Upon seeing it this past week, I can still feel the spinning emotional spectrum that was experienced while watching this film. There are just so many words to describe the feelings one feels while sitting through every frame. 

    The core plot of the film follows Chris, a photographer whom goes to meet the parents of his girlfriend, Rose and while the both of them stay up there for the weekend, Chris starts to notice the oddly nostalgic behavior that the groundskeeper and housekeeper exhibit among others he meets as the film goes on. As he stays the weekend in the idyllic abode, he is hypnotized by Rose's mother and from there he journeys and descends into a dark labyrinth involving his past, societal contradictions, and oppression and tyranny.

   To explain the plot anymore would be a disservice to those who have yet to see and discover the memorable surprises, shocks and intense scares that Jordan Peele's screenwriting and directorial debut cauterizes into your brain after watching it. It's much more than just another scary movie with underlying universal themes of race issues and classism. It's a film that keeps your eyes glued even when they want to look away and keeps your brain thinking long after you have watched it. Director Adrian Lyne once stated: "I like movies that create discussion; I love it when they haven't forgotten about your movie by dinnertime and they're still arguing about it the next day - that's what a movie should do, it should create discussion."

This movie does that and so much more. GET OUT doesn't just create discussion, IT IS THE DISCUSSION. The story, style, characters and themes pool themselves together to create the cinematic form of waking up and taking the blinders off. This isn't just another one of Blumhouse Productions low-budget quick money-makers but it's a masterful showcase of what you can do with a modest budget, a talented cast and an universal and impactful story that makes you reflect inwards and dig a little deeper than what is on the surface.