David Pierdomenico
Two years ago, Jordan Peele dazzled audiences by not only showing that he could write and direct a horror film, but by having that same film nominated for several Academy Awards. Get Out was up for Best Picture and Best Actor (Daniel Kaluuya), and even won Best Original Screenplay for Peele himself. He had certainly come a long way since his sketch comedy days on madTV and Key and Peele, but even back then his talent showed. So it’s no surprise that his directorial follow up would be a film of great anticipation. Us proves to be even more of a frightening horror film than Get Out, complete with more subtlety and surrealism.
Vacation from Hell
The film opens in 1986 with a young Adelaide on vacation in Santa Cruz with her parents. As her dad tries to win her a prize at a carnival game, she wanders off into an incredibly creepy house of mirrors. As she goes inside, she finds something so traumatizing that it leaves her catatonic for some time, with a desire to never return to Santa Cruz again. Fast forward to present day and Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) is vacationing with her husband Gabe (Winston Duke), and children Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex).
After a fun day at the beach, they go back to their vacation house and the strangeness begins. They notice a family of four outside, dressed all in red jumpsuits and wielding scissors for weapons. It starts as a typical home invasion film akin to The Strangers, but becomes something far more surreal. As these ominous intruders break into the house, we see that they look identical to Adelaide, Gabe, and their children. Simply referred to as the “Tethered”, these doppelgangers have sinister intentions, and an infinite amount of creepiness in the way they move and speak.
Who Are We?
Ultimately, this is the big question the film asks via the use of the Tethered family. Without giving away too much, many viewers could easily interpret them as a dark reflection on us as a society. The horror genre has always been about reflecting the darker side of our psyches, and the Tethered are merely the physical embodiment of that. The idea of some stranger trying to bring us harm is scary enough, but it’s all the more disturbing when it comes from ourselves; as if to suggest that we truly are our own worst enemies.
Because of the doppelganger aspect, it’s very interesting and compelling to see each actor play both roles. The fact that each of them (including the child actors) can do so with such ease, speaks only to the immense talent of the actors, as well as Peele’s directing. Lupita Nyong’o especially stands out, as her Tethered version gets the most screen time and assumes the leadership role among the alternate family.
But it’s not just their family. It seems that thousands, maybe even millions of others have Tethered versions of themselves coming to kill them, something which may evoke mixed feelings from audiences. Initially when it was just the one family, it gave the film an eerie, Twilight Zone vibe. But having the event spread to a national scale turns it more into almost an apocalyptic event, which changes that vibe.
In addition to perfectly blending horror with comedy (more on that here), Jordan Peele’s greatest accomplishment with Us is creating an incredibly disturbing and unsettling atmosphere throughout. Between the Tethered family’s uncanny manner of moving, to the shadowy camera-work, to the creepy musical score, everything fits perfectly together to create a frightening, hilarious, and overall entertaining experience!
