Review #193: Get Out (2017)

This review was originally written in 2022.

Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #48: Get Out (2017)

"Now, sink into the floor."

I first watched Get Out a few months after release and I thought it was pretty good. I showed it to a few people, still thought it was pretty good. Went the last four or five years thinking it was pretty good.

I rewatched it today, and can I just say, this movie is FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC?

For anyone who hasn't seen it, Get Out follows Daniel Kaluuya as Chris, a young man traveling with his girlfriend, Rose, to meet her rich parents for the first time. Chris is concerned that her parents might act strange around him because of his race, but when he meets them they're super friendly and welcoming. But as the family introduces Chris to all of their friends at a yearly garden party, all of the myriad bizarre interactions begin to add up and something far, far more sinister than anyone expected is lurking just beneath the surface.

I feel like I've just thrown a cake at the Mona Lisa, because that synopsis just doesn't do the movie justice. But I really didn't want to spoil anything (I know several people who read these reviews without seeing the movies first) and one of the great things about this movie is that for most of the film, it really ISN'T clear what's going on, but there's a HUNDRED things it could be. There's the really friendly parents- could they be serial killers under cover? There's hypnotism- is the movie going to all be a dream? There's the groundskeeper and maid that act REALLY weird- are they under some kind of mind control? There's the crowd of partygoers all sizing up Chris and asking him intimate details- is this some sort of a cult? There's so many directions the movie feels like it could be going, and only around the two-thirds/three-quarters mark does it really become apparent exactly what's happening, but by then it's FAR too late.

And I just want to park on the hypnotism scene for a second. Not only is Daniel Kaluuya's performance unreasonably good, but the whole scene is just so inexplicably tense, it feels sinister without any concrete reason why, and when Rose's mom says "Now, sink into the floor" I can't help but get chills. It's no secret that this movie is layered with metaphors for the experience of being African-American, and I know Jordan Peele has said that the "sunken place" is a direct translation of his feelings being marginalized for his race, but dude- metaphor aside, the sunken place is TERRIFYING as a concept.

And even if you ignore all of the metaphors, this movie is PACKED with scenes that mean two completely different things whether you know where the story is going or not. Like the party scene, EVERY SINGLE PERSON is creepy and unsettling whether you're watching it under the assumption that they're just creepy white people looking to do... whatever it is they might be doing with Chris, but they're EVEN CREEPIER once you know what they ARE doing with Chris. A lot of movies will have a scene that seems normal when you don't know the twist, but then they seem sinister when you do... or a scene that seems sinister when you don't know the twist, but seems normal when you do. NOT THIS ONE. Both instances are terrifying, just for different reasons.

I was expecting to be kind of lukewarm on this one, since I feel it's been in the public consciousness for so long since I watched it the first time. But nope, it's even better than I remembered. And you never know, you might feel the same way, so go watch it again!

Overall Rating: 10/10 TSA Officers Handling the Situation

Favorite Quote Said During the Movie: "Call me white, but bingo and sparklers sounds like a fun party." -My Wife