Out of all of the legions of horror fans out there, I have found that those who grew up in the 1980’s the toughest to please with the modern state of the genre. I’m not sure if it is because Jason and Freddy dominated the decade and horror was considered “cool,” or what. But these types are usually the first to turn their nose up at anything modern and say that it was predictable and “not scary at all.” I know this because I cut my teeth on horror and cinema during that decade and was raised by the two Stephens; King and Spielberg. However, I find myself differing from that crowd these days because I can see a trend in horror film making that is on the up and up.
For every person that says they didn’t like a modern horror movie because it wasn’t scary, you really have to ask yourself a question of what can scare you in a film after about the age of 12? Scary can mean a great number of things to an adult. Things like the loss of a child or your marriage going kaput are scary. Most of the time, something like a killer clown is viewed more as a “great villain” than he is scary by this demographic. Therefore, as a King devotee, I have found that my favorite type of horror these days is psychological horror. Jump scares and gore do very little for me in terms of giving me a chill up my spine. But when I’m completely uncomfortable, know what’s coming, and can’t do anything to stop it…that’s when I think modern horror is doing things right.
With this new crop of horror directors like James Wan, Mike Flanagan, and Jordan Peele, I find myself having great faith in the direction modern horror is going. Is anything they’ve
made necessarily scary? I wouldn’t say so. But I’ve had those moments of discomfort I mentioned before at movies made by each of them. When Get Out was met with critical acclaim, I was beyond excited to see it. Since my wife does not like horror, I had to wait for home video to finally see it. When I finally did, I found myself a little letdown, as I didn’t consider it a horror movie in the least. It was a great thriller and if you made it black and white, it would have been a terrific Twilight Zone episode (ironic I thought that since Peele is the face and voice of the Twilight Zone reboot that begins next week) but I never found anything horrific while watching it.
What Get Out did do for me was take Peele seriously as a horror director and not just that funny dude from a sketch show. When the first previews for Us came out, I got those shivers just from the trailers. With Peele himself proclaiming this one a horror movie, I went in with my expectations super high again. So, did it deliver?
Yes and no. I’ll try to explain.
If you’re one of those who thought Get Out or the other critical darling from last year, A Quiet Place, were “amazing” movies, then you’re going to leave very happy. If you’re looking to be scared, clench the theater armchair, or experience any of the horror feelings I described above, well you’re going to be pretty disappointed. Which is where I’ll say I’m at just a half hour removed from seeing it.
Much like Get Out, this is far from a horror movie. It has slasher elements, but all of the moments anyone would consider scary were shown to you in the trailers. This isn’t to say that this is a bad movie by any stretch. It’s quite good, it just isn’t what I would call a horror movie and the media outlets hailing it as “the greatest horror movie ever” are just proving this is 
likely their first experience with the genre. Another complaint is that besides bad language, it felt like a PG-13 movie. The majority of the violence happened off camera and anything truly disturbing really held very little shock value.
I will give the movie credit for easing off on the jump scares. Though the soundtrack is terrific, it wasn’t used to make the audience have a cheap scare. I’m not talking about Beach Boys or N.W.A., though those moments are great, but the score. It sounds like something from a classic horror film with the use of strings and children choral arrangements. The soundtrack was by far my favorite part of the movie. While I thought the performances were good since the main cast was playing dual versions of themselves, I’m not seeing the Oscar contender performances others were proclaiming. It’s really good acting, but nothing even close to the level of Toni Collette in Hereditary (she was robbed, dammit!).
The main thing to remember here is to go into a movie like this without any expectations. I know that’s difficult with the universal acclaim being heaped upon the film, but ignore the reviews and just enjoy the ride. I’d also like to know if anyone else figured out the twist ending as easily as I did; about 30 minutes into the movie. *looks around, whispers* It’s very M. Night Shyamalan.
In the end, I still think Jordan Peele has a career very much worth paying attention to. His first two films have been very good, I’m just not ready to call them instant classics like most others. All of the comparisons to Spielberg and Hitchcock seem way over the top so early. I believe his best movie is still is still yet to come a I can’t wait to see it someday. As for me, I think I liked Get Out more than Us.
The Verdict: 7.8/10
I rate all movies on a scale of See It In Theaters, Wait For Blu Ray/HD Digital, Download It Illegally, or Burn The Master Copy.
Us (2019) is a Wait For Blu Ray/HD Digital
The Good: The soundtrack is something I plan to purchase as soon as I finish writing this. It’s the best horror/thriller score I’ve heard in some time.
The Bad: Not taking advantage of the R rating and showing the violence.
The Ugly: Lupita N’yongo’s “other” voice. It sounded like a recycled version of Forest Whitaker’s in Rogue One.
While I am always going to recommend supporting the genre and seeing these movies in the theater, I’m going to recommend saving your money, waiting for digital, and using the leftovers to go see Pet Sematary in two weeks instead.
Us was written and directed by Jordan Peele. The film stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, and Tim Heidecker and is distributed by Universal Pictures.
Mike is a Booktuber and the host of Mike’s Book Reviews.
A Constant Reader and Stephen King superfan, he declares himself a movie quotes expert and will fight you if you say anything negative about Frank Herbert’s Dune.
