By Roy Mathur, on 2019-04-01, at 00:26:34 to 01:11:34 BST, for Captain Roy's Rocket Radio Show
I thought Get Out was great and I really liked the trailers to Us. I talked about his first horror film, Get Out, back in episode 187 in 2017.
I watched Jordon Peele's second horror feature last Wednesday. I went to a slightly less local, but nicer cinema than my nearest, because a friend has a monthly pass, which is something I might reconsider. I took Poky (Mikado) and, stupidly, a strong ice latte, which kept me up for hours later. Man, I'm just not used to watching films at night. I'm definitely more of a matinee chap.
I know... listening the audio track of a video trailer, so allow me... a girl strays into a funhouse/house of mirrors at a seedy seaside funfair. There, she meets her twin and passes out. Years later, a family arrive for their summer holiday at the same seaside resort and the horror starts when a sinister family, who look at lot like them, invade their home. At this point, it's pretty obvious what's happening and what the twist is going to be. What isn't obvious is the reason for all that's happening. Don't worry though, it will it be explained by the end of the film.
Jordan Peele Loves the 80s. There is fan service, or, more likely, that Jordan Peele himself is a fan, and so the film references/shoves in Easter eggs of a lot of the same stuff that I like. I find it interesting that he does this because he was born in 1979, but these are things from my teens and young adulthood. So now we have younger people like him showing nostalgia for a period in which they were only young children. Is this some sort of transference from their parents? The references? There's the sinister shopworn Californian beach resort from the 80s that is very much Lost Boys. In Lost Boys, the town is the made up Santa Clara doubling for the real Santa Cruz, but here it's simply the real Santa Cruz. That can't be a coincidence. There are the Thriller, Black Flag, and Jaws t-shirts. Now I want those t-shirts, especially the Jaws one. And the scissors? Why the scissors? Sure, they're a horror trope. Look at their use in the movie adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone. But I'm sure they're here for a reason, along with the red uniforms. Either that is something I missed or was left on the cutting room floor. I don't know, because I've been avoiding reviews so that you can get my opinion mostly unadulterated. And there are other tropes too--like the fetishisation of the mask (Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightbreed etc.) Let's just say there are many homages, references, and Easter eggs that I enjoyed. They seemed lovingly placed and not derivative or pandering to the audience.
Whereas Get Out seemed more Wes Craven influenced, this seems to me like a Stephen King original take on an old trope, i.e., the way King takes something old and gives it a contemporary twist; like vampires in Salem's Lot or The Night Flier. Jordan Peele does the same with the old, old, olde horror theme of doppelgangers and the zombie apocalypse too.
It's about doppelgangers, and identity. Who you are now? Who could be? What could you become? And that fascinates me.
Subverting such an iconic event like Hands Across America is a stroke of genius.
The kid; The mildly obnoxious nerdy son is my favourite character.
Not as funny, but also not as raw and uncomfortable, as Get Out.
There's too much foreshadowing. From the trailer, we know it's about twins. From the first important scene in the amusement park, we know it's about twins. When we meet June Osborne's girls, we get that it's about twins. Come one! Stop telling me it's about bloody twins!
Oh god, the exposition! There's too much at the beginning, but there's also an overlong piece of exposition in a scene near the end that just goes on and on. It's insufferable. It could have been finished in two sentences, but it's reams of unneeded dialogue. What the hell happened? I'm surprised Jordon Peele thought the audience needed this, and it's jarring.
Some of the acting is occasionally hammy, especially from Elizabeth Moss. Sorry Elizabeth, you're usually brilliant, but you didn't sell it to me here. Jordon Peele, you were directing! Why can't you... Oh yeah, when you get a big star, you can't expect them to actually be directed in the movie you wrote, produced, and directed. Perish the thought that celebs do their job. Isn't Hollywood culture great?
Conclusion: a lot of positives and a few negatives. This film is very different to Get Out; it is more metaphorical, and not really about race this time, (though having a black family cast as the protagonists is important and way too long in coming). It is a polished and original take on a very old subject, and it is generally entertaining. What worries me is that here we have a really good new horror auteur who is not white... The situation reminds me uncomfortably of M. Night Shyamalan. I know it's not fair to burden a creator with the expectations of everyone who feels excluded, but his presence is such a rarity, specifically in genre, that I cannot help but to do so. Still, this is undoubtedly a superior horror film.
Release 1st April on CBS All Access from the people who brought you Star Trek: Discovery, and hosted by the guy’s who's film I just talked about.