imperfection is perfection
Sporadic film reviews by a wanna-be filmmaker
GET OUT [2017]
By using racism as a major theme for this film, Get Out immediately sets it apart from similar horror/thrillers. It isn’t a straight horror film, though it certainly creates an atmosphere thicker than tar, and some spine-chilling moments reminiscent of The Shining. It definitely has some other moments that throwback to horror films of the 80’s, but is very much based in modern society; racism can be an extremely scary experience, it has been slowly building for the last few years, and this film uses that notion to its full advantage.
If the image above doesn’t grab you, I implore you to seek medical attention immediately. Now.
The tone of the film is immediately announced, as the film starts with crickets chirping and we begin to hear a conversation off screen. Soon a black man appears in the frame and is walking through a predominantly white neighbourhood, engaged in a humorous conversation about street names and how lost he is. Soon after he hangs up the phone he is abducted.
What follows is an extremely well written main theme, using elements of African music to create a black experience, to paraphrase Jordan Peele. More on that later.
After this strong opening, we meet Chris (an incredible Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend Allison (again, a great showing by Allison Williams). In fact, every actor involved in this film deliver near-flawless performances.
Chris is understandably nervous that Allison wants him to meet her family, as they don’t know that he is black, and Chris understandably thinks that it is probably a good detail for them to know before he meets them. She reassures him that her parents are harmless, but his friend Rodney can already sense the weirdness. And weird is a wild understatement when thinking about the plot of this film, and how this visit gradually unfolds.
When I next google the phrase ‘mind-f-ck movies’, this one sure as hell better be on the list. And do yourself a favour, don’t watch any trailers and go in blind.
Their visit begins normal enough, with her Dad being a typical dorky Dad, insistent on giving Chris a tour of the large property. But things are already getting strange – every servant to this family is black, and not only that, they don’t seem to possess any sort of personality, or humanity. Further still is her father’s comment early on how ‘private’ their large back-yard is, not to mention his outburst when the couple first arrive and tell the parents that they hit a deer during the drive.
Suddenly the father is filled with hatred towards deer, one of many subtle hints to differing racist attitudes.”You did the world a favour,” he remarks.
Wait, what?!
Chris seems shake this weirdness off as white people acting like white people while around a black person, and there is some great humour surrounding this stereotypical behaviour, and this humour further separates it from other movies of this nature. It isn’t a horror-comedy in the vein of Dead Snow or What We Do In The Shadows, rather the funniness lies in the increasingly uncomfortable situation Chris finds himself in, and the contrast between this and the over-the-top but understandable and hilarious reactions from his buddy Rodney when Chris calls and tells him what is happening.
Rodney is thinking what we all are: Get the f-ck Out!! LilRel Howery as Rodney provides great comic relief, and despite limited screen time, he is a very memorable character; quite the feat when the entire film is filled with a buffet of Very Strange People. There isn’t any normalcy to be found here.
There is also another layer of humour, nothing that will make you laugh out loud but it will put a smile on your face. The sheer weirdness and creepiness of the entire situation, especially how the black servants act around, and especially how they talk to Chris, is both at the same time hilarious and spine-tingly creepy. It is the black people at the place who are acting the most insane towards Chris, adding more confusion to his situation.
A mention must go to the subtle cinematography of Aussie Toby Oliver, heightening the sense of tight spaces such as hallways, while making the most of the more visually compelling scenes, especially close-ups involving the black servants. However, Michael Abels’ soundtrack stands out as one of the best modern scores I have ever heard. Not only are a few pop songs used in complete juxtaposition to the insanity that is occurring on screen, the score is another element of the film that will creep inside your brain. Did you like the soundtracks to The Witch or Under The Skin? Arrival? Then this is one that you simply must listen to.
Fun fact: The main title theme is in Swahili. The title of the track is “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga,” a phrase that translates to “listen to (your) ancestors”, while the song’s lyrics loosely mean “something bad is coming. Run.”
Yet another sense of horror to this very layered film that sends chills down my spine just writing about it.
To state the obvious, the sheer insanity of the situation heightens, but is done so with an almost perfect pace, revealing key plot points not too soon or too late. The entire last act is lean-forward-in-your-chair tense, and is executed with extreme finesse. It is unfortunate then that despite this excellent execution, the very final scenes are rather predictable, but still pack a hard gut-punch that is not easy to forget. The final reveal before said final scenes is also something that you won’t shake soon.
A movie timed perfectly given the racial climate that has been enveloping most of the world, Europe especially and alarmingly over the last few years, Get Out 
capitalises on the horror of racism, succeeding in holding a mirror to the world, and surely must make a racist person think twice about why they believe what they believe. This is obviously a personal movie for Jordan Peele, and it certainly feels that way as he effortlessly combines satire on race with an extremely atmospheric, tense experience that is relentless in its horrific, plain f-cked up attack on your mind. There are images that you will not quickly shake, and many, many moments that you will see when you close your eyes at night.
Happy nightmares! My first full sixer for the year.
6/6
6/6
31 Comments on “GET OUT [2017]”
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imperfection is perfection 
Nice review Jordan – you already know what I think – we are very much in agreement on everything.
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Cheers Jason (-:
Yep we are definitely on the same page, right down to that incredible score. I get chills listening to it. Man I gotta go see it again!!
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Great review! I loved this and I’m so glad it’s a hit.
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Me too. Took a mate last night and he was blown away. The acting is sooo good and sooo creepy!!!
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I’m not big on horror but I’m very interested to see this film. Nice review, clearly this is one to watch.
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Yeah its a horror/thriller, but the commentary on race is there in spades. A lot of it I picked up on the second watch, but there are a ton of subtile references, as well as the final act which is just bat-shit insane
Hope you like it!!
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Saw it on Sunday and did like it. Didn’t think it was the second coming, perhaps too much hype but I dug it and I’m interested in what he does next.
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I watched Season 1 of Key and Peele a couple of months ago and they’ve got something.
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You know I had never heard of that show before this movie. Sounds like something to check out
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Very meta so I adored it.
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This was really good. It’s not a genre we usually seek out but this was one we really enjoyed!
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Good to hear fellow Assholes! 😉
This was a nice surprise indeed. Surprising still that it has had such a big PR campaign down here in Australia!! Its obviously making some cash
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Nice review Jordan. While I appreciated the movie’s satirical elements, I was very disappointed with Get Out. After a while I grew exasperated by the Rod character and I disliked the Death Wish-esque ending, I’m a big fan of Key and Peele, but this didn’t work out for me, though I realize I’m in the minority.
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hehe fair enough! Yeah I can see where you are coming from, I loved Rodney but he could have done without the scenes about sex slaves and the cops lauaughing at him. That scene wasn’t needed at all. The satire was on point for sure, I just loved the insanity of it all, creeped me the fuck out even on the second watch!
Could you elaborate on what you mean by the ending? Do you mean the final reveal in the last ten minutes or the very final scenes (which I found VERY predictable I gotta say)
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Chris’ killing spree at the end of the film struck me as cartoonish and pornographic in its adulation for revenge. Plus the final reveal of Rod in the police car (and his joke at the end) cheapened the experience for me.
Obviously I’m in the minority about Get Out and I do think it has a lot of great things to say about contemporary race relationships. But overall I was very disappointed.
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Ahhh thats a bummer. That joke in the police car wasn’t called for at all I agree. And I kinda thought the same thing about his terminator like revenge, but for me, it made sense cos he’d been soooo tolerant for so long, y’know?
I liked the cop car rocking up tho, cos I thought…. oh shit, wtf are the cops gonna make of this?! I would have preferred actual cops rocking up, as that could have made for a more ambiguous ending.
But alas, I’ve decided to get rid of half points, and for me this was better than a 5/6. Haha my ratings are so screwed, what on earth is the percentage of 5/6?? Haha, I don’t know why I stick with it. I guess cos drinking beer is so Aussie ;D
btw, I just saw The Red Turtle in Sight and Sound, it said its just being released in the UK now (how the hell I saw it over six months ago in AUSTRALIA is beyond me). Don’t suppose you’ve caught it?
Stupid thing is that its been online for ages. I mean, they wonder why people pirate stuff!
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I would have preferred a Night of the Living Dead-esque ending, where actual cops had shown up. It would have provided a darker ending more fitting for a film about racism….
I did manage to catch The Red Turtle a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it. I don’t really watch many animated movies these days but the imagery was so pristine…
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Ah!! Glad you dug that one mate, its really interesting in that Ghibli animated it, but the story is Eastern and Western influenced, cos the director is Dutch I think and additional funding came from…. Netherlands? One of those central Euro countries. So it has a real unique feel to it. I gotta get me the blu-ray, though like I said, there is a BR quality version online, and has been for a while, which makes me wonder where it came from if no official BR has been released! Especially if its only just aired in the UK….
Yes, I am a filthy pirate. Judge me as you must 😛
As for the ending, yep, I’m with you. Thats what I thought was happening, cops showing up after this black dude is standing over a half dead white chick. Underwhelming that it wasn’t like that, could have made for a great ending and I agree, would fit in with the theme, especially considering the earlier police stop near the start.
Did you see what I wrote about the main title? I find that so awesome, I can’t stop listening to this soundtrack
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I did like the movie’s soundtrack as well, particularly the intro and concluding song. In fact, I’ve spent the last couple weeks revisiting a lot of film scores, which is something I haven’t done for a long time.
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Yeah film scores are pretty much my favourite genre at the moment! Tho I’m hoping you do another round up of new albums, there were many there in your last post about that that I’d never heard of – Nails especially, despite their odd attitude.
And yeah that main theme is amazing. Did you see the trivia I included? The vocals are in Swahili and translate into a creepy message. So does the title of the song.
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Yeah, I didn’t know about the Swahili lyrics until I read your post. Pretty cool bit.
I’ve basically spent most of this year listening to the new Power Trip album, but I also really liked the recent records from Darkest Hour, Pallbearer, Iron Reagan, and Full of Hell and liked the new stuff from both Obituary and Immolation as well.
Out of curiosity, are you an At The Drive-In Fan? I’ve just gotten into them and really dug the new album but I read a lot of mixed reviews for that.
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Great review! I think the hype oversold this one to me but I have to admit, I thought the ending was brilliant. Your review made me appreciate the movie more than I thought I did!
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Hey that’s gotta be a good thing! 🙂
Yeah the hype is big for sure, but I intentionally avoided all trailers so I didn’t really know what I was getting into. Its a movie like no other!
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6/6, this must be a movie worth seeing.
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Yeah man, I may be overselling it a bit cos I loved the soundtrack so goddamn much and movies like this just don’t get made often enough, but dude, check this shit out asap!!
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I will definitely see this.
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This was a great read. I liked the movie less than you, but I admired many things in it nonetheless. I agree that it is a very memorable film, but I just thought that the subtle social horror should not have been combined with trashy slasher effects.
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Can see what you mean. Looking back, I’d have given it a 5.5 but I decided to stop doing half scores, and 5 beers just wasn’t enough! But I agree, the last scenes were…. jarring, to say the least, especially after the psychological mindfuck that had been building up. Bit of a let-down I guess, but the rest of it was so good!!
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So glad you liked this one. Interesting to hear that this sort of racial climate is prevalent in Europe and other places. So often, we Yanks think this is a uniquely American problem. Thanks for that. Great review.
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I wouldn’t say ‘this sort’ of racial climate, in fact it is a LOT more scarier and given that Trump only just got in, I’d say Peele was referring to Europe and not the US. Films take time to write!!
But you never know..
Re- Europe though, I don’t know a lot, but I follow what is going on, and the rise of far-right, racist/semi-facist parties is…. umm, well, kinda scary.
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