Us: A Different Kind of Thriller

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Margaret Hoff, Web Editor

A new movie has hit the theatres and is blowing the minds of audiences across the nation. The new brainchild of the renowned director, Jordan Peele, has once again left audiences thinking of something bigger than themselves. Ever since his first movie, Get Out, people everywhere were more than eager to see his newest thriller: Us.

Jordan Peele has once again drawn away from the typical cast that Americans are used to and has introduced new twists and turns in the plot that aren’t often used. Along with these feats of film, he has also restored many’s faith in original thrillers. Although from the outside both of his films seem as though they will be terrifying horrors, they actually flip a switch close to the middle of the film and become thought-provoking and intense thrillers, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t unsettling. Peele prefers to rely solely on the performance of his cast and storytelling to leave chills running down his audience’s spines rather than using the typically overdone jump scares and shock horror tropes. This in itself is refreshing to audiences, as original and truly good horror and thrillers are all but extinct. Peele has also made it a point to normalize an all black main character and cast. He has previously claimed that he could never see himself casting a white man for a main role, continuing on to say “I’ve seen that movie.”

However, just like with his movie Get Out, he has once again made a movie impossible to explain without spoiling the plot. You may think that, based on the trailers, Us is just a terrifying horror movie about a family; however, once you’re in the theatre, the movie takes a turn for the best, forcing you to the edge of your seat as you overthink the plot and get more pulled into the world of Us. One audience member’s review explains the movie perfectly, “A masterpiece of identity horror & a dark reflection on America’s past with chilly atmospherics, originality in concept, psychological torment + twists, old-world suspense-building, and one of the best scorings in modern Horror history.” Oddly enough though, this thriller doesn’t stray away from humor, making it even more enjoyable as the cast cracks jokes at some awful times.

Like any good movie, Us begins with a flashback, taking us back into Adelaide’s (the leading lady’s) childhood when she strayed away from her parents on a pier and entered a house of mirrors with an ominous phrase crowning the front entrance: find yourself. Upon entering she does in fact “find herself,” but it is a whole other living and breathing version of herself. Then, we are taken back to present day where we are introduced to the grown-up Adelaide, along with her husband, daughter, and son. From then on they settle into their beach house and go to the beach, but something seems to be amiss to Adelaide as she becomes increasingly anxious. Then, in the middle of the night another family appears in the driveway seeming to be a mirror image of Adelaide’s family, and from then on all hell breaks loose.

Including a phenomenal performance by leading lady, Lupita Nyong’o, this movie is something you have to see yourself. Every twist and turn in the plot truly leaves you waiting for and wanting more, but ultimately, the film leaves you to answer your own questions and to watch your own back.