"Us" Review - Little Beach House of Horrors

I think we have entered a new age of horror where people finally get that horror films can be so much more than jump scares. Sure, there are people who pass them off as boring, but I believe general audiences are slowly catching onto the idea that horror is not all about jump scares. That’s what led me to seeing my first horror film in a theatre.

I don’t do scary movies. At most, I’ll watch the more brilliantly made ones, like Hereditary, Annihilation, and of course, Get Out, on my laptop. Not only do I hate jump scares for noise reasons, but most of the time, they are fully not necessary and just make the film you’re watching look even more dumb than it is. That’s what makes Jordan Peele stand out better than all the rest. To continue my Tina Turner joke, he’s simply the best.

“Us”, like Jordan Peele’s last work, has a truly stunning cast that includes Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph (who will soon be in the live action Lion King), and the Toni Collette-like goddess of horror acting, Lupita Nyong’o. Every cast member takes on two roles, and each create their own creepy, dystopian persona to act with their simply regular characters. It all is made even better with the suspenseful Bernard Herrmann-esque orchestral score, as well as the terrifically written and sometimes even funny script and beautiful dark cinematography. All these elements together bring out every bit of light and darkness in this duplicated upside down universe.

It’s a fantastic film, what can I say? Is it “Get Out” good? Not quite unfortunately. But I mean, once you hit a bar like that Oscar Winning film, it’s hard to hit that bar again. I think Get Out has more of a charm to it and has a better written story to it that makes it more rewatchable. Plus, after you watch it a second, third, or even 4th time, there’s so much to take in and analyze. With “Us”, its got its big twists and themes to digest in your stomach, but it’s not nearly as much of a fish hook that reels you back in especially since some of the crazy twists won’t last forever in your mind like “Get Out”’s twists did. However, I think all of that is okay. At the end of the day, we need more horror films like this, and we need to rave about films like this, not compare them to other like minded films or denounce them as boring. I want more masterpieces that strike fear into your soul without the need to be right on the nose. That’s what horror is supposed to be. It’s what greats like Alfred Hitchcock wanted in this kind of genre. I’m very glad that people like Jordan Peele are embracing that kind of devotion into a specific kind of art.

Two Nebs Up!