It was a breath of fresh air for horror, which in the last decade has finally veered away from incessant jump scare factories, favoring those valuing thoughtful stories and genuine frights over cheap 'Boo" effects. Two years and a Best Screenplay Oscar later, Peele returns with his follow-up, another venture into the horror genre, but rather than opt for another dark satire, veers into the familiar doppelganger horror trope. In his second movie, he continues to evolve as a filmmaker, both becoming an outstanding storyteller and visualist, standing right alongside his original debut. It's Us.
The Wilson couple, Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) and her husband Gabe (Winston Duke), drive down to their summer house for a vacation with their kids Zora and Jason (Shahadi Joseph Wright and Alex Evans respectively). While spending time at the Santa Cruz beach, Adelaide is noticeably nervous the whole time, especially after Jason wanders off after noticing a mysterious man in red. Later that night, a strange family stands outside their house, eventually breaking their way in. The visitors, revealed to be identical doppelgangers (Also Nyong'o, Duke, Wright, and Evans), soon begin to terrorize the individual family members, leading the Wilsons on a desperate run for their lives if they intend to survive against themselves.
In spite of his seeming inadequacy for the genre, Peele has brought the same high caliber touch to his horror as he has for his comedy. Much like humor, he understands that the full impact of being frightened comes from timing, his ability to establish a fright, and being able to hold that mood for the entirety of its run. He obviously has a gifted touch when it comes to the blend, rooting himself in the age-old traditions of horror, and a slow-build to frightening pay offs. While that does mean his story isn't as steeped in satire or subversion as Get Out, it certainly makes for a much scarier excursion.
Peele makes his debt to old-fashioned horror tricks known very early on, in which we open in a beachside funhouse, a claustrophobic maze of smoke and mirrors loaded with spooky popouts. Doppelgangers and home invasions are already tried and true staples of the genre, but rather than try to upend or subvert those tricks, Peele commits to the act and rolls with the pulpiness of his premise. Even his techniques take a decidedly old-hat approach, with DP Michael Gioulakis making extensive use of long takes to absorb the atmosphere, with the simplicity of its construction being its greatest weapon, instilling a minimalist, but palpable sense of continually building terror. It may be smarter than the average slasher flick, but isn't above reveling in the pure camp of its traditions, as such making for an entertaining and eerie venture into the darkly twisted, all while finding ingenious (and even awkward) pinches of levity amidst the carnage.
But in addition to being a strong horror showcase, it helps that it's on the back of a good story, populated by characters to genuinely care about. The Wilson family just click as a unit, sharing in an effortless chemistry as they stack up to the individual quirks of the others. That certainly aids the film in its later stretches, when the intensity ratchets up, and they hit the ground running in their bid for survival. Winston Duke gets his fair share of great moments, including the lion's share of laughs, but it's Lupita Nyong'o who stands out with the most compelling material, silently filtering through some unresolved trauma in her early years that creep their way to the surface, and give her resolve as she goes all out to protect her family, making for a commanding and engaging scream queen.
Whatever their strengths, however, it's all for naught if not complemented by their evil twin doppelgangers, playing against their more civilized and indifferent demeanor, with that of impoverished animalism. Playing the "my own worst enemy" card both literally and figuratively, Peele extracts thoughtful commentary out of the vicious shadow figures, their signature red jumpsuits teasing tidbits ranging from issues of class disparity, to the mistreatment of those within a cruel legal justice system, and perhaps more than I'm thinking of. The same actors also shine strongly in their evil roles, especially Noyng'o as the soft-spoken and grisly mastermind matriarch.
But being an old-fashioned take on the horror genre, that doesn't always earn Peele much points for surprises, especially given the film's ultimate conclusion. To be fair, I knew the film was gonna take a hard turn at some point, given that it's simply a trapping of the genre in recent memory (Hereditary included), but if you've seen the advertising, you're possible to trace one down long before it actually happens. But to be honest, it just made me enjoy the movie even more. Had Peele tried to play it more serious than he did, it would have threatened to feel disingenuous, but instead, pressed forward and had fun with the camp absurdity to follow. Foregoing any immediate ambiguity or superfluous sense of twist, I felt more compelled to live in the moment with the film, and was incredibly entertained.
Which isn't to say that Us doesn't have ideas on its mind. It absolutely does, and it engages with some thoughtful topics, but I loved that it understood, first and foremost, to be scary. The strong horror roots are the star of the show, and all its thematic sprinklings are icing on the cake. For what's usually my least favorite film genre, horror is in the best place it's been in years, garnering better stories from their confident artists behind the camera, but most importantly of all, they're genuinely scary. So while Peele may have been one of the most unlikely spearheads of their evolution, with two strong efforts under his belt, he's certainly proven himself one of the most interesting.
**** / *****
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