Get Out [2017] – ★★★1/2

🦌 An atmospheric and strange combination of The Stepford Wives (1972) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), but with some “over-the-top” horror in the mix and, thus, hardly offering anything new or subtle by the end.

Get Out is one of the best-reviewed films of this year. It is a debut film of director Jordan Peele, and has a dedicated, up-and-coming cast to match the film’s ambition. In this film, which is part psychological horror and part societal critique, a couple, Chris and Rose (Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams), go to visit Rose’s parents upstate. It would be the first time that Chris meets Rose’s parents and he is visibly nervous. Soon upon arriving, Chris is overcome by the atmosphere of unease all around him, questioning whether he is really that welcomed in the neighbourhood. Despite elements of brilliance in setting up the atmosphere, unfortunately, the film also strays half-way through from its initially brilliantly-presented “social” horror setting and becomes a rather mediocre horror film in its second half, focusing on predictable “slashing” and, ultimately, having a rather unoriginal ending.

As a social satire incorporating discussions on race, the film is top-notch. As critic Matt Goldberg put it: the director looks “at those who profess their lack of racism, but only do so if they can maintain their dominance over black people in the most insidious manner possible”. In that way, the film is indeed thought-provoking, raising interesting issues, and you can feel this “white power” critique from the very first scenes when a police officer on patrol asks Chris for his ID even though his girlfriend was driving the car. Another funny thing is that Rose’s parents keep black servants, even though they allegedly have an excuse for doing so and profess that they “would have voted for Obama the third time”.

Now, as a “social” horror, Get Out also starts extremely well. From the moment Chris steps into this new-to-him neighbourhood, the feelings of unease, discomfort, apprehension and strangeness build up. The film maintains this theme of “the unknown there to get you” the same brilliant way as the films The Stepford Wives (1972) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968) (both written by Ira Levin). Chris makes his move from his R’n’B/rap-charged town apartment to a remote white community, and the contrast could not have been more pronounced. He steps into one uncharted territory where appearances deceive and dangers are camouflaged, presented as kindness and benevolence. The creepiness of the story could not be over-emphasised and some scenes are very well-shot, such as when Chris meets another African-American Andrew Logan King (Lakeith Stanfield). The eerie atmosphere of the film is also due to the music. For example, the film begins and ends with the song Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga a Swahili phrase that means “listen to [your] ancestors”, but the lyrics also translate to “something bad is coming – [you have to] run”.

Psychologically, the film is also thought-provoking. There is an evident discrepancy in the film between Chris’s troubling inward feelings about the situation and the outward appearance of normality, and this contrast of confused messages is fascinating. Coupled with this are some Freudian psychology and hypnotism, which taps into Chris’s childhood trauma, and the cast performs superbly. Daniel Kaluuya, who is now, incidentally, in the cast of Steve McQueen’s new film Widows (2018), does a good job. It becomes easy for the audience to associate themselves with his character as Chris is likeable and easy-going. Allison Williams, who looks like young Jennifer Connelly, also has her hands full here, and performs well.

However, unfortunately, all the guessing, intrigue and suspense, mixed with humour and surrounded by well-developed characters, do not come to much. This is because the film strangely decides to “spice things up” a bit about thirty minutes into the story, and, instead of following this subtle “social” horror genre, slides into one’s ordinary slasher-flick, undermining the clever development of the past thirty minutes or so. By focusing on outwardly and “superficial” threats in its second half, the film breaks from its “social” horror and loses its prised subtlety, appearing overblown. All this means that as Get Out rushes towards the end, it becomes increasingly predictable and unreal. The acting and presentation becomes overly-theatrical, and the so-called twists and scares – lukewarm. The ending itself is the biggest disappointment there is, and could have been written by a six-years old. Void of any thought-provoking element, which characterised the film in the beginning, after the initial twist is revealed, the ending is probably one of the most unimaginative there could be.

Moreover, on the second glance, Get Out is far from being original. Firstly, the film seems to be a re-work of Forbes’s The Stepford Wives or Levin’s novel of the same name. Peele himself stated that the film provided the inspiration for Get Out, but the similarities are just too many to count. In both The Stepford Wives and Get Out, the main characters are photographers who suddenly find themselves in this idyllic, seemingly benign neighbourhood, but which, in fact, harbours dark secrets. They then experience strange phenomena and try to understand the eeriness of their suburban environment, especially the fact that authorities refuse to help and even conspire against them. The twist endings in both films are also more or less based on the same idea of control. Moreover, there are strong similarities between the Get Out ending and another film The Skeleton Key (2005), and the only difference is that The Skeleton Key tries to shock its viewers with supernatural ideas, while Get Out toys with societal implications of the story. And, if this was not enough, the first three minutes of Get Out is the same sequence of events as that found in the film The Invitation (2015). Both movies feature an interracial couple driving in a car and then hitting an animal, with both being distressed by the event. Incidentally, in The Invitation, there is also a couple who transport themselves to a remote location to attend a party whose invitees are strange-behaving and possess ulterior motives.

So, is Get Out really as great as critics argue it to be? Well, not really. On the one hand, Get Out has this convincingly-presented social critique and is clever in a way it sets its uncomfortable atmosphere. The beautifully-shot film also has its moments of brilliance when it comes to certain “psychological horror” scenes, and the acting and directing are also good. However, on the other hand, it is also a shame that this film borrows so much from its predecessors and does so obviously, it is very confused as to its “main horror” theme, and has both – predictable twists and a disappointing finale.