“Miss me? I ran out of queued up posts and watched movies (bday weekend set things back) but was on track to post something a day or two late. And then I spilled water on my laptop and was without it for a couple days. Got a new one up and running now (farewell Eli; hello Filburt) so I can catch up while all my mp3’s are copying over.
A couple weeks ago, I was discussing horror movies with a friend at church (still not convinced it was the appropriate venue for the conversation, but hey, I’ll talk about movies anytime anywhere). I was explaining how I was picky about horror movies, so she was trying to help me to figure out what makes a good one. The conclusion that I came to was that the best horror movies are about something other than the scares. Exhibit A was how The Babadook is more about fear of being a bad parent than the monster. We had other examples that aren’t coming to mind right now, and we did discuss Saw in depth (again, not sure if it was church appropriate talk). I was very excited to prove that theory with Get Out.
This film is described by writer/director Jordan Peele (yes, as in Key and Peele) as a social thriller. A young black man travels with his white girlfriend to meet her family, and let’s just say he’s out of place and things get weird. This was almost more psychological thriller than horror, especially since there was a whole mental element with hypnosis and general. But going back to the horror hypothesis, oh my god was it true here. The drama of it is absorbing, and would make an interesting enough movie as is. Then it gets layered with the scares and suspense. The emotion of the drama heightens the intensity of the scares, which heightens the intensity of the drama. The two sides feed off each other and it’s a pretty amazing movie experience.
Not to give anything away, but it did fall into a common horror pitfall of having this incredible buildup and then not that great of a conclusion. The ultimate end was satisfying, but much of the inevitable reveal was a little overwhelming. However, that’s completely forgiveable since with a movie like this, it’s the journey that’s important. And this journey was totally worth the trip.
Get Out – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n”