There’s no escape from the real monster lurking in “Get Out.”
In the tradition of classic horror films such as “Night of the Living Dead” and “The Stepford Wives,” Jordan Peele’s terrifyingly trenchant movie, a socially charged thriller, examines the ugly truths hiding beneath the lie of a post-racial America. The political subtext, hiding in between the jump scares and blood splatter, gives “Get Out” its sharp teeth.
The horror movie tropes function as a metaphor for the kind of racism that cloaks itself in platitudes of tolerance, the kind that hides in the shadows until something forces it out into the light.
Certainly millennial waif Rose (Alison Williams), who is white, has no idea her pastoral hometown might be a hotbed of bigotry or she’d never bring her black boyfriend Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) home to meet the parents, right? Heck, her neurosurgeon dad (Bradley Whitford), wishes he could have voted for Barack Obama for a third term. Her psychiatrist mom (Catherine Keener) even offers to help Chris kick his nicotine habit with a little painless hypnosis.
They live in a posh lake house on a lush country estate with manicured lawns, gazebos and garden parties, a civilized seeming place where people can’t stop mentioning Tiger Woods and Jesse Owens.
Chris, having spent a lifetime trying to ignore the racism all around him just to keep his chin up, is quick to explain away the over-accommodating weirdness surrounding him. He loves Rose and that’s all that matters. Kaluuya painfully captures his naïveté and also his capacity for denial, both of which makes him a deer in the headlights of what’s to come.
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Sure Rose’s folks are awkward, but they seem to be liberal, although the only black people they know are their creepily obliging servants, the groundskeeper Walter (Marcus Henderson) and the housekeeper Georgina (Betty Gabriel). There seems to be something amiss with the help, who slide from robotic grins to sobs with unsettling speed.
The deliciously sinister nature of the race dynamics will make you cringe, right up until it gives you the chills. When Chris’ smart-alecky buddy (Lil Rel Howery) advises him to run while he still can, you fear the nightmare that awaits.
Howery nails the comic nuggets here with delightfully politically incorrect riffs on sex slave rings and such. The bawdy humor comes as a relief from the thick atmosphere of menace and dread.
Williams, best known as the clueless Marnie on “Girls,” paints Rose with delicate layers that make the twists and turns in this nail-biter feel plausible. The actress suggests that there are unexpected depths and shades in Rose’s wide-eyed glances. A scene involving Fruit Loops is a gem.
Peele (“Key & Peele”) makes his directorial debut here, and mines the current tremors in the zeitgeist, the way people of color are questioning their place in a post-election America, with wit and precision. The way he pivots from horror to comedy keeps us entertained and off-balance.
As Chris comes to realize that keeping his head down won’t keep him safe as a black man in America, “Get Out” forces us to confront uncomfortable truths.
‘GET OUT’
4 stars
Rating: R (violence, gory images, language, sexual references)
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener
Director: Jordan Peele
Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
