Get Out Breathes Life Into The Dying World of Horror

***Warning - Spoilers ahead!***

Bursting at the seams with visual metaphors, double entrendres and thought-provoking concepts, it’s no wonder Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out smashed the box office. Just weeks after its U.S release, the film has secured Peele’s place in cinematic history - making him the first black debut writer/director to bring in over $100 million at the box office.

Get Out is a unique horror/social commentary film that successfully makes topical racial points while staying true to both the horror genre and Peele’s comedy roots. It follows young black photographer Chris Washington [Daniel Kaluuya] as he visits the family of his white girlfriend Rose Armitage [Allison Williams] for the first time. He is expectedly nervous about the situation, but has no idea of the real terror that is in store for him.

Throughout his stay at the elaborate countryside mansion he notices oddities surrounding him, particularly the unusual way the family’s black house staff act. Despite Rose’s father’s insistence that he and his peers are liberal – note their rehearsed spiel about wishing they could vote for Obama for a third term – he is bombarded with inappropriate racial questions. Is he stronger because he is black? Is he better endowed? Does he feel that being black is in fashion? Eventually, he discovers these questions are foreshadowing for a far more gruesome secret plan the family have for him. He later discovers that the Armitage family run a business that puts the brains of dying or ill white people into the bodies of healthy young black men and women.

The film is laden with clever and subtle references to modern racism. The secret operation of the Armitages is a comment on white society’s idolisation of black culture within mainstream media. It examines how white America often desires the physical attributes of black bodies, without truly taking an understanding of the societal issues people of colour face. Through its use of a blind character who wants to undergo the procedure while staying adamant that he is not racist like the others, Get Out shows how cultural “colour blindness” still contributes to systematic oppression. Even if you were to miss the references, the film is entertaining, offering terrifyingly tense horror sequences and perfectly timed comic relief. The modern takes on race in America are intelligent and quiet, but they are all the film needs to drive home the point.

After a spectacularly gory finale featuring death by deer antler stabbing and graphic brain surgery gone wrong, Chris comes out on top and escapes the family home. One of the finest moments in the film is when he avoids hypnotisation by removing the stuffing from a couch and putting it in his ears. That’s right – a black character survives by literally picking cotton.

Get Out manages to bring traditional horror into the modern age while offering a contemporary take on social and political issues. The film will no doubt be remembered as a telling reflection of the times we live in, as well as a tense horror masterpiece that breathes new life into the genre.