A particular kind of racism is on the menu for the latest horror offering from Blumhouse Productions (makes of The Purge, Paranormal Activity and Insidious) – a funny, frightening, political and highly effective chiller that starts like Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? set in Stepford, but manages to forge its own original path. It's current and important, but also massively enjoyable and it's likely to be one of the best thrillers of the year.
Skins' Daniel Kaluuya plays Chris, an African-American man dating a white woman, Rose (Girls star Allison Williams), who insists her parents aren't racists, though she hasn't told them Chris is black.
When Chris and Rose arrive for a weekend in the country, initially it's quite the opposite – with Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford as the uncomfortably liberal parents who are falling over themselves to appear warm and welcoming, insisting they would have "voted for Obama a third time" and showing off their multicultural artefacts with pride.
So far so awkward, but it's when Chris meets the family's black groundsman (Marcus Henderson) and housekeeper (Betty Gabriel) – who act like grinning automatons hiding something like terror or grief beneath the surface – that things get weird.
If you've seen the trailer, you'll know this much already and it's easy to guess where it's leading – fortunately director Jordan Peele, who also wrote the screenplay, knows that too and deliberately wrong-foots the audience at every chance. Get Out isn't exactly what you think it is, but do avoid spoilers if you can – this is a film best served cold.
Peele is best known as one half of sketch duo Key and Peele, so it's not that surprising that in his feature directorial debut he handles humour deftly, mixing the uncomfortable comedy of manners with sharp dialogue and joyful air-punch moments.
The performances are spot on too. Kaluuya in particular is expressive and sympathetic (and he nails the American accent despite being a Brit with Ugandan parents), while Lil Rel Howery as Chris's TSA worker best mate is hilarious.
More unexpected might be Peele's absolute command of genre film making. He clearly knows horror, both the beats and timing essential for a good scare, and there are decades of horror history that enrich his debut, riffing on classics from Rosemary's Baby and Night of the Living Dead to Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. In fact our only real reservation with Get Out is that plot-wise it is rather similar to another vastly inferior (but still enjoyable) early 2000s chiller. (We can't say which without serious spoilers.)
Get Out is definitely a horror about race. It's a slasher with Chris as the final girl, it's a paranoid fantasy where Chris is the tormented hysteric, a possession movie where everyone is a pod person out to get Chris, and it's a fraught satire focused on rich white liberals told with a slant that only a horror movie could get away with.
So it's about something. But don't let that put you off – all good horror films are about more than they are about (so to speak). And that includes Rosemary's Baby, Body Snatchers, Chain Saw and more.
Get Out is an incredibly assured debut that totally gets horror. And comedy. And politics. And it's going to be one of the standout hits of the year.
Director: Jordan Peele; Screenplay: Jordan Peele; Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Betty Gabriel, Marcus Henderson; Running Time: 103 mins; Certificate: 15
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