Written and directed by Jordan Peele (Key and Peele), Get Out is hard to write about for many reasons. The first being that it is difficult to talk about the movie without giving it away. I found myself telling those close to me to “just see it”. The second being that I think the movie is important on multiple levels, specifically during this time where equal rights across races is under a microscope. There is no better time for a socially conscious movie to appear on the big screen as now.The movie sheds light on the fear of manipulation, problematic systemic institutions, and the fears and struggles attributed with being a black male in 2017. The movie begins in an eerie maze-like suburb that could literally fit into any state in the US, and shows the anxieties of being somewhere out of your comfort zone. Without giving anything away, Get Out masterfully balances horror and real life in a manner that is refreshing.

Each person in the movie played their role to a T. Daniel Kaluuya deserves his screen time acting as the strong horror victim we have been looking for. Jordan Peele himself explained that the need in this film for the film’s main character Chris Washington to act with intelligence, to make good decisions, and be “woke”. Kaluuya does this masterfully as the plot tightens in around him. LilRel Howery as Rod Williams works perfectly as the audience’s internal thoughts continuously pleading the same things you scream inside while watching the film. Rod pops small jokes that allow your chest to feel less tight throughout the film, but never takes away from the film itself with his humor. His role as the comic relief is never overboard as happens often in movies. Instead, he balances his comedic dialogue with the tone of the film well.

Allison Williams (Girls) plays Chris’s girlfriend rose, with whom Chris goes with to visit her parents, Missy and Dean Armitage, played by Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford. Without spoilers, I will say they play the part of the typical white privilege family just eager to get to know their daughters new boyfriend and what he is all about. The movie does a masterful job of giving us just enough backstory and information necessary to understand and not be spoon fed plot points like so many movies do in excess in this day and age. The musical score, composed by Michael Abels is very effective and when it enters, perfectly captures whichever tone the movie takes at the time. For Horror fans and socially conscious alike, Get Out will more than deliver on both spectrum’s. This movie will have any socially conscious person wondering how they can be a part of pulling the twenty first century out of “the sunken place”.

10 out of 10

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