From what has become one of my favorite thriller/horror production companies now, Blumhouse and comic-turned-director Jordan Peele (of Mad TV and Key & Peele fame) comes Get Out – and it’s gaining a lot of attention because of how damn creepy it is. In my book, it’s an instant classic.

Get Out starts like any recent film in the thriller category of late – a young couple is leaving the city to spend a weekend with the girl’s parents. The boyfriend, Chris, played by Daniel Kaluuya, is naturally apprehensive because his girlfriend, Rose, played by Allison Williams, hasn’t told her parents that he’s black. Rose reassures him that it’s not a big deal, that her parents are ‘not’ racist, and that her dad ‘would have voted for Obama for a third term if possible’.

Chris shrugs off his apprehension and they head out for the countryside. When they arrive at the house, the weirdness begins. Rose’s parents painfully try to act cool and come off as accepting, and the two household employees that work at the estate don’t quite seem to be with it.

The weirdness continues when Chris is subjected to an involuntary hypnosis session by Rose’s mother, who claims it’s to help Chris kick his nicotine habit. A yearly ‘gathering’ occurs, involving a large host of affluent and strange guests, friends, and neighbors of the family. As the party continues, more cracks appear in the facade that the Armitage family has put up to hide a sinister plot that has claimed the lives of countless other black men – a procedure developed by the patriarch of the family to essentially allow for the rich and powerful to live forever as they wish, unless Chris finds a way to break free of the mental controls placed on him and call for help.

Get Out was an awesome directorial debut for Jordan Peele, and comes with some powerful undertones of racial exploitation and the continued, slave-like architecture in which talented young people of color are ‘discovered’ and groomed by affluent white mentors. It is a creepy, creepy movie with a great build up and timing, as well as good comedic relief moments that you would expect from a writer/director like Peele, who has been a comic for his professional career thus far. A solid cast led to an authentically creepy performance that definitely had me squirming from the moment Chris walked through the door at the Armitage estate.

I highly recommend Get Out, and I’m looking forward to future work from Jordan Peele!

5/5 Platinum Squid Rating
Don’t drink the tea!

• Tags: black film, Blumhouse, creepy, dark comedy, race, thriller