May 12, 2017

VOD Review: Get Out (2017)

"White girls of the world ain't nothin but trouble."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5052448/
As a white dude, I can't pretend to know what it's like for the average black man to navigate the waters of modern day America on a daily basis. I'm not a bleeding heart liberal who thinks that injustice is around every corner, or that sky is falling because of evil white people who want to oppress everyone who isn't in the Aryan club, but things ain't easy for lots of people these days, and I mean black, white, gay, straight, and especially poor people. Everyone has got their real life Horror stories, and some are definitely worse than others.

I do know that even though I'm white, I don't trust many rich white people because they're shady as fuck.

I also know that Jordan Peele has crafted a debut film that is a deft and poignant (and entertaining) look into the issue of race, and it scared the living hell out of me.

It's really impossible to breakdown this movie and its plot twists without ruining it for anyone who hasn't seen it, so I'll keep it short and sweet. And vague.

Chris is a black dude with a hot white girlfriend. They're in love, an they've reached the point in their relationship where she wants him to meet her parents. He's nervous about the idea, not only because it's intimidating as hell to meet a girl's parents for the first time, but because she hasn't told them he's black, and with them being rich and white and all, he's afraid they're going to be on some Guess Who's Coming to Dinner type of shit.

"CALL US SALT-N-PEPA ONE MORE TIME."
Her parents seem nice enough, although they make shit awkward by talking about how they voted for Obama, how Black Mammy was the best character on Scream Queens, and how they're down with O.P.P., trying to sound hip and accepting. The family also has a black groundskeeper and housekeeper who come off like Pod People with their creepy fake smiles and rehearsed words, and even Chris's best friend Rod tells him that he should get the hell out of there before he ends up being a sex slave because that's what white people do. Chris loves his girl though, and even if she's the only normal person there besides him, he can take it for her.

Then things begin to get even stranger, and eventually become downright deadly.

And that's all we're saying about that.

THESE MOTHERFUCKERS RIGHT HERE...
Get Out is a terrifying, funny as hell Thriller that also has something serious to say. Horror has always a genre that has contained plenty of subversive (and flat-out) social commentary, but here the message is so deftly delivered that it feels more weighty than most. Jordan Peele's script is air-tight, full of impending doom, and it says something about how awkward, and downright deadly it can be to be a black man in today's society. It's all very subtly done, and I never once felt like I was being preached to, and thank God for that.

And Peele gives us a finale that goes in, and it gets bloody as hell.

What more can we really ask for? (Gratuitous nudity, but we digress.)

Daniel Kaluuya may not be familiar to the American Audience at large, but we've been fans of his since he starred in a short-lived UK TV show called The Fades back in 2011. The Kid can act, and he takes the ball and runs with it here, playing a likeable "Final Guy" that you just can't help rooting for. Even more impressive was Lil Rel Howrey as Rod, who had us laughing our asses off every time he spoke. Bradley Whitford and Katherine Keener made for perfect villains (that's not much of a spoiler), and Keener especially, who is no stranger to playing dark and evil; if you want to see her at her terrifying best, check out An American Crime.

And of course there's Allison Williams who plays the loving girlfriend with such perfect ambiguity that you're never sure what she's all about. She impressed, with some truly great scenes towards the end.

OH DEER GOD...
It's 2016, and it's high time that when a black man tells you "Oh hell no, you need to get the fuck out of there!" that we listen to them. No matter what you're doing, no matter how good you think you got it, no matter how safe you think you are, heed the damn advice and get your ass moving.

GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!
WTF was with the Froot Loops, man?

THAT"S SYMBOLISM RIGHT THERE.
Shit pops off at then end and gets all kinds of bloody, but until then, it's definitely a psychological ride.

THIS DEER HAS SEEN SOME SHIT.
Nothing naked here, folks.

WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR FACE AND GET NAKED.
Anything Rod said.

"I'm TS -Mutherfuckin'- A, we handle shit."

And the whole Jeffrey Dahmer bit. Shit had us rolling.

THIS DUDE"S GOT JOKES.
Jordan Peele's directorial debut is an impressive one, as he's managed to mix social commentary with Horror in a very special way. Get Out has struck quite a nerve with audiences at large, raking in nearly $200 million at the Box Office, and earning a crazy 99% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it absolutely deserves that level of success.

Rent it now, or buy it when it hits Blu-ray in 2 weeks, but see it you must.

A

Get Out is available now on VOD, and is still in some theaters.

http://amzn.to/2qyr9Qf

Allison Williams is a pretty little snowflake in this one.

5 comments :

  1. It was good. Better than I expected, because hype can create unrealistic expectations. I think this is where horror needs to go to be scary. Fresh, very specific stories, and practical efx. In fact, with a higher budget this wouldn't be as good. Gotta have good actors too. The lead was really good.

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  2. The lead is a good actor. He was in a cool BBC show called psychoville.

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    Replies
    1. He really is good. We're still pissed that we'll never get a 2nd season of The Fades.

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  3. That dud had me laughing so fucking hard....
    I was bored, so before I watched it on VOD, I got a Cam
    copy of it, and every time that dude said something, you could
    hear the entire audience roaring in laughter...

    This def ad that old school 70s/80s almost Hammer horror vibe going for it in the last half. It was effectivly creepy as fuck.

    Also, the scene where he was embodied and floating into his own mind, it reminded me very much of the scenes in Under the Skin when the people got stuck in that liquid.

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  4. Maybe my expectations were too high, but this movie was a let down. About 30 minutes into the movie you already had an idea of what was going on and how it would play out.

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