Released February 24, 2017
Rated R (Violence, Bloody Images, Language)
1 hr. 44 min.
Directed, Written, and Produced by Jordan Peele (Key and Peele, Keanu)
Cinematography by Toby Oliver (The Darkness, Happy Death Day)
Music by Michael Abels (Detroit)
Edited by Gregory Plotkin (Paranormal Activity 2, Happy Death Day)
Produced by Jason Blum (Whiplash, Split), Edward H. Hamm Jr. (The Box, Happy Birthday), and Sean McKittrick (Donnie Darko, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies)
Starring Daniel Kaluuya (Sicario, Black Panther), Allison Williams (The Mindy Project, Girls), Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich, The 40-Year-Old Virgin), Bradley Whitford (The West Wing, Saving Mr. Banks), Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), LilRel Howery (Friends of the People, The Carmichael Show), Marcus Henderson (Whiplash, Django Unchained), Betty Gabriel (The Purge: Election Year, Westworld), Lakeith Stanfield (Selma, Death Note), and Stephen Root (Office Space, Dodgeball)
I’ve finally seen Get Out! Here are my quick thoughts.
☆☆☆☆
It may seem unusual to see Jordan Peele, famous from the excellent comedy sketch show, Key and Peele, direct a horror film. However, when you think about it, horror is similar to comedy. It’s a genre that is subjective to its audience, requires knowing your audience, relies on intuition and timing, and can draw attention to subjects the audience normally wouldn’t confront, doing so entertainingly and divertingly. We know that Peele is already a great comedian. Maybe he could be a great horror storyteller, too. Couple that with a film being produced by Jason Blum and Blumhouse Productions, which have produced some really good low-budget (mostly horror) films – my favorites being Whiplash, The Gift, and Split – in the last several years, and maybe we could have a great film. So how is Get Out?
Really good. Very solid. I don’t think it’s as great as some people have been saying, but I also don’t think it’s worthy of being dismissed, as some others have been saying. Get Out is Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, and for a horror film debut, it’s more than decent. He has shown himself here to be a capable, subtle, detail-oriented director. His movie plays effectively into some of the paranoias and fears of our current culture, and in a surprising way that might catch you off guard. I didn’t find it specifically scary, but that doesn’t seem to be its goal. Rather, I found it disturbing and creepy enough to entertain me and, at the same time, leave me with a few useful thoughts.
Just as Peele’s direction is quite good, so are the performances. Yet some of the other technical aspects are pretty mediocre, and there are some logic problems and inconsistencies that I noticed, though they didn’t take too much away from my experience. Do I have to be so vague? I guess not, but if any of you haven’t seen it, I’d rather you go watch it unspoiled, because I think that is how you’ll have the most fun.
I’m going to give Get Out a 77%.
E.D. 