Horror logo

Oscars Countdown: 'Get Out'

Jordan Peele's Directorial Debut Is One To Remember

By Mike CharestPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
Like

Oscar season hosts a number of movies that feel like Best Picture contenders, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you enjoy them. I didn’t love The Shape of Water but, as a religious award season fan, I recognize it as a film that’ll carry some hardware home. Get Out is the fundamental opposite of that. It is the antithesis of Oscar Bait. I’ll keep the whining to a minimum, but I wanted to lead off by saying my thoughts on Get Out are in no way a reflection of its Oscar season chances. Keep this one in your collection, but out of your office pool. And watch me try to reverse-jinx this movie to victory.

A Misleading Trailer

Roughly 104 minutes of this face but, make no mistake, it's great acting

I remember thinking the first Get Out trailer was one of the worst things I’d ever seen. I honestly thought it was a joke, and that by the end we’d find out it was all a Progressive Insurance ad or something. Flo comes out and says something quirky to Chris while the two peel that deer off the windshield. As it turns out, Get Out’s tone is just very difficult to package in sixty seconds. And that tone is what makes it one of 2017’s best films.

Modern Horror

Arguably Get Out's best scene

The horror genre may have improved in recent years, but it’s still a consistent source of trash. I didn’t like It 2017 at all, which apparently makes me the one person who didn’t. It was a systematically pieced together culmination of modern horror. The film rotated between jump scares and quipping kids until it made enough money to fund a sequel.

Get Out is everything that modern horror isn’t. They shoehorned in two jumps in order to fill a trailer, suckering people into seeing a thought provoking peek behind progressive America’s curtain. Then they filled an entire runtime with a quieter, more consistent tension that has not left my mind since I saw this movie. And just to show he can, Jordan Peele also turned Get Out into one of 2017’s best comedies.

Some Rare Negatives

The point at which you realize these people are more off than you initially thought

If there are holes to poke in Get Out’s story, they involve spoilers so I’ll speak very generally. There’s one goofy character that’s completely out of sync with the terrifying family’s cool, calm and collected brand of horror. Another character turns into a comically robotic monster after spending the runtime’s majority in a more interesting role. The supporting pieces usually compliment Daniel Kaluuya’s strong and steady lead. The guy pours a ton of emotional weight into a part that doesn’t give him all that much to say. And the smaller characters counter him with beautifully absurd sequences. But a pair of them missed the mark for me once the plot took its many twists and turns.

Movie Over Message

So when horror movies are actually good, are they then labeled thrillers?

For a message that’s fairly on the nose, Get Out goes about its social commentary with an arsenal of subtleties. The film’s biggest trap is the constant temptation to become preachy, but it understands that we get the point and simply continues its story. If you’ve seen the alternate ending, you’ve glimpsed the version of Get Out that maybe couldn’t resist the easy slap on American wrists. The finished product instead takes a similar enough stance but, above all else, prioritizes movie over message and successfully delivers both.

The Verdict

I almost made it the entire review without using this picture everyone uses.

Get Out probably won’t win any Oscars, but man do I wish it could. Return of the King should’ve been the gateway drug to fun movies winning more Oscars. I thought it’d teach the academy that Best Picture isn’t an inherently lifeless or uninspired category. It should be just the opposite. Nothing about being the best movie of a given year automatically means it can’t feature Wolverine. I think the academy had Spielberg slap The Post together in a desperate, last minute lunge to keep Logan at arm’s length. Regardless of results, Get Out is an edge-of-your-seat ride of psychological thrills that takes the best elements of several genres and combines them all into one weird little movie.

movie review
Like

About the Creator

Mike Charest

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.