Us is a comedic-suspenseful-horror film adding to a body of work that could be the beginning of Jordan Peele’s reign as ‘Master of Horror’. Following up the racially charged hit Get OutUs feels a bit more expansive and if you’ve seen the trailers you already know this movie takes “doppelgang’ing” to another level. After viewing Us, I feel Jordan Peele has accomplished with his take on “crazy people stalks family and invades house” horror genre by infusing it with his social commentary in a way that makes a film franchises in the same genre The Purge come up short. 

Frequent readers of the site know I’m not a huge fan of Black films aimed at Black audiences due to my personal feelings of their tropes, lack of imagination and ingenuity. Many of these films are super simplistic and are intended for the ‘chitterling circuit’. Peele’s creativity help breaks all of those rules while appealing to a wider audience.

No doubt the cast will be bestowed with heaps of praise because most of the actors really did a good job. I think Winston Duke’s (one of the scene stealers in Black Panther) star will continue to rise and I can easily see him transitioning into the A-List Black actor pool after this film. Obviously much of the focus of the film is on Adelaide played by Lupita Nyong’o. Her mystique is slightly matched by her introverted son Jason, played by Evan Alex.

The internet and social media spaces will be filled with think pieces on the film’s social commentary. Us will inspire countless Youtube videos dissecting the film, pointing out things you may have missed, hidden meanings, and the undoubtedly “how Us is secretly real and Peele knows because he is apart of the Illuminati”. The story and Peele’s directing will make Us a film with longevity in a similar fashion how people are still referencing M. Night Shyamalan’s The Six Sense.

I do feel like with most of the trailers we see for upcoming films today, too much is revealed. There was an instance in the film where in a sense; the atmosphere was spoiled by the trailer. Hollywood really needs to get a hold on this and learn how to edit their trailers so there’s not a break in the tension during the film; deluding the mood film makers are attempting to set. Another recent example is the trailer for MA. Also if you were wondering, the slowed down version of LUNIZ I Got 5 On It is excellently used in the final cut of Us.

While I dislike when folk use perceived inoffensive euphemisms when comparing a Black person to a famous successful white person, i.e. “The Black Bill Gates”;  if Peele’s first two feature films are an indication of what’s to come from him in the next 20 years, he will absolutely obtain legendary “Hitchcockian” status.