Horror fans have been waiting years for a smart, relevant flick that can still scare the hell out of the audience.
Welcome home, Us.
Us isn't a movie one can discuss in detail without giving away spoilers, but you've seen bits and pieces of Us in other movies. You watched Jack Torrance transform into something he may always have been in The Shining, and you know and appreciate Hitchcockian use of imagery to create suspense. You still squirm in your seat when you hear the Jaws theme.
And you know you and I both watched most of C.H.U.D. while peeking through our fingers.
Us isn't a movie one can discuss in detail without giving away spoilers, but you've seen bits and pieces of Us in other movies. You watched Jack Torrance transform into something he may always have been in The Shining, and you know and appreciate Hitchcockian use of imagery to create suspense. You still squirm in your seat when you hear the Jaws theme.
And you know you and I both watched most of C.H.U.D. while peeking through our fingers.
Jordan Peele, who wrote and directed Us, channels Hitchcock, a lotta Kubrick, some Spielberg, and other modern horror gimmicks to set a tone and pace that well serves the movie. Investing heavily in those flavors pays off. Humor, defection, and imagery pulls the audience deeper into the action, and misdirects us away from the existential themes of the film.
Until they don't anymore.
And that makes for a satisfying ending to a complicated story about who we are as individuals and as a society.
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