As presented in the incredibly eerie trailer, Us follows a family of four as they're tormented in a terrifying home invasion scenario. But the truly horrific twist? The four people stalking them are twisted dopplegangers of themselves.
It's both unfair and inevitable to compare this new movie to Get Out. That was a true modern masterpiece (generally -- not just of the horror genre). But Jordan Peele is savvy about how he follows up his success. Get Out was a tale of incisive social commentary; its horror trappings were well-composed, but secondary. Us feels like an inversion: it seems built first and foremost to scare, with some commentary added in the secondary position. It's a subtly different formula that should help with expectations.
That's not to say that there's no meat on the bone here. I did walk out of the theater thinking to myself, "well, that was fun, but it was no Get Out." And yet, the movie hung with me for days, in an undeniable way. First, it stuck with me in the way that a well-made scary movie does -- a "don't want to be alone in the house without lots of lights on," "wait, what was that noise?" kind of way. But later, it stuck with me as my thoughts kept drifting to its themes. The message of Us isn't as crystallized and strong as that of Get Out, but it is there, and stands up to continuing examination of the film.
What also struck me odd at the time, but then stuck with me long after the movie, was the score by composer Michael Abels. It's more conspicuous than the average film score these days, which takes some getting used to. But it's profoundly unsettling, from its classic "creepy choir" moments to its balletic and disturbing remix of the hip hop track "I Got 5 on It." It's a soundtrack I expect I'll be picking up at some point soon.
The performances are outstanding. The core cast, of course, are playing dual roles as themselves and their doppelgangers, but Lupita Nyong'o has the heaviest lift here. She stars as the haunted Adelaide and the menacing Red. While one performance is pure menace, both are full characters shaded with nuance. Winston Duke provides much of the movie's comic relief as husband Gabe. He's perfectly deployed to lift the tension so that it can be felt all the more when it returns. Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex are great as the couple's two children, both particularly strong additions to horror's proud lineage of creepy kids. Also fun, though definitely supporting in the film, are Elizabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker as friends of the family (and the most yuppie of couples).
There's an almost M. Night Shayamalan quality to what Jordan Peele has written and directed this time around. I don't mean that in a withering The Happening kind of way; I'm talking about early Shyamalan. The opening of this film feels very disjointed at times, full of apparently unassociated moments and imagery that leave you scratching your head. But every single frame of the film fits into the whole somehow, and by the end, you see the whole machine as it was designed. Indeed, you may anticipate some of the machine before it's revealed. I did. But the journey was still worthwhile; this was not a movie only about the destination.
I still think this movie isn't as good as Get Out. But I've realized in the days since I've seen it that it's still really good. I give Us an A-. If you're a horror fan, it's definitely worth checking out.
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