99.
Get Out
8/10
A young African-American male gets an invite to meet his Caucasian girlfriend's family in their massive yet slightly uncomfortable estate.
We set the scene with an African-American being abducted at night whilst he's on the mobile, our music featured from the kidnapper's car sings, 'Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run' as the scene fades to black and we are already left wondering, what's going on here then? Fast forward to maybe the next day and our two main characters are in their flat, discussing whether or not the weekend away will be as good as expected, and mainly, 'Do your parents know that I'm black?' As we may have already know from the trailers from previous film viewings, this was going to be a horror and race seemed to be at the fore front of the story. As the film progresses, we are introduced to the comic relief of the film through the main male character's best friend. Although full of wit and swearing, there was actually a sense of care in his voice about the trip his best mate was taking.
Whilst making the journey we see the happy couple narrowly hit a deer which run across the road, as they wait, a policeman turns up and seems uneasy around Chris, our main male. The officer asks for his ID and that's when his girlfriend, Rose, steps in to ask questions as to why. Soon the police man buggers off with his tail between his legs, and the couple are left to continue their journey.
As we pull up to the family estate, lawns perfectly cut, not a stone out of place and very picturesque, standing in the middle of the lawn is an African American man, with a hoe in hand and dressed as the gardener. Walking up the steps they are greeted by Rose's parents as everything seems to be going well they sit in the lounge and catch up a little, we are then first introduced to the fact that her mother is a hypnotist and could help Chris with quitting smoking. The father proceeds to give a tour of the house and over compensate that he isn't racist by making remarks such as he would have voted for Obama if there was a third term. Walking into the kitchen, Chris sets his eyes on another African American house worker, this time a female and a housemaid. Again Chris made uneasy eye contact with the worker, and the father quickly rebuffs him, knowing what he is thinking. Giving an explanation that he didn't want them to loose their jobs after looking after his parents for so long.
As the visit continues, they are sat outside and again smoking becomes an issue and that the mother will quickly solve it and that Chris should let it happen. They know he has a different opinion on it but keep pushing in a creepy sort of way. In the background we see a car pull up and out pops Rose's brother, Jeremy. He's been away practicing medicine. That's where things take a slightly twisted route.
Sitting down to a meal in the house, drinks flowing, Jeremy takes a firm interest in Chris, asking him about his interests, what sports he plays, and other quite firm questioning, even beyond his family members asking him to stop. He even wants to play fight with Chris to see how strong he is.
That night, Chris goes outside for a smoke when he suddenly sees the gardener running full sprint towards him, slightly freaked out he takes a step back as the runner takes a sharp right and heads away. As he turns he sees Georgina, the maid, looking at her own reflection in the mirror in sort of a trance state, she then corrects her hair and walks away. Walking back into the house, a light pops on and there sits the mother, calm as you like, cup of tea in hand and asks Chris to sit down. She begins to stir the cuppa as she starts questioning Chris about his history and childhood, what happened to his mother and what his intentions are for her daughter. It becomes clear that the stirring and the noise is what is hypnotising and he soon becomes paralysed, tears streaming down his face. We are taken back to a youngster sitting on his bed, watching TV and listening to the rain. As he tried to fight back, she asks him to sink into his chair, 'SINK' and soon we enter his mind as he sinks into nothingness as his consciousness leaves his body. He's falling through space and looking up at a small box which was his actual vision, not being able to fight back to his senses. Already I felt something more sinister was afoot.
As we pull up to the family estate, lawns perfectly cut, not a stone out of place and very picturesque, standing in the middle of the lawn is an African American man, with a hoe in hand and dressed as the gardener. Walking up the steps they are greeted by Rose's parents as everything seems to be going well they sit in the lounge and catch up a little, we are then first introduced to the fact that her mother is a hypnotist and could help Chris with quitting smoking. The father proceeds to give a tour of the house and over compensate that he isn't racist by making remarks such as he would have voted for Obama if there was a third term. Walking into the kitchen, Chris sets his eyes on another African American house worker, this time a female and a housemaid. Again Chris made uneasy eye contact with the worker, and the father quickly rebuffs him, knowing what he is thinking. Giving an explanation that he didn't want them to loose their jobs after looking after his parents for so long.
As the visit continues, they are sat outside and again smoking becomes an issue and that the mother will quickly solve it and that Chris should let it happen. They know he has a different opinion on it but keep pushing in a creepy sort of way. In the background we see a car pull up and out pops Rose's brother, Jeremy. He's been away practicing medicine. That's where things take a slightly twisted route.
Sitting down to a meal in the house, drinks flowing, Jeremy takes a firm interest in Chris, asking him about his interests, what sports he plays, and other quite firm questioning, even beyond his family members asking him to stop. He even wants to play fight with Chris to see how strong he is.
That night, Chris goes outside for a smoke when he suddenly sees the gardener running full sprint towards him, slightly freaked out he takes a step back as the runner takes a sharp right and heads away. As he turns he sees Georgina, the maid, looking at her own reflection in the mirror in sort of a trance state, she then corrects her hair and walks away. Walking back into the house, a light pops on and there sits the mother, calm as you like, cup of tea in hand and asks Chris to sit down. She begins to stir the cuppa as she starts questioning Chris about his history and childhood, what happened to his mother and what his intentions are for her daughter. It becomes clear that the stirring and the noise is what is hypnotising and he soon becomes paralysed, tears streaming down his face. We are taken back to a youngster sitting on his bed, watching TV and listening to the rain. As he tried to fight back, she asks him to sink into his chair, 'SINK' and soon we enter his mind as he sinks into nothingness as his consciousness leaves his body. He's falling through space and looking up at a small box which was his actual vision, not being able to fight back to his senses. Already I felt something more sinister was afoot.
The next morning Chris wakes as if it was all a dream, he checks his phone, which he then puts onto charge and tells Rose that he thinks her mum hypnotised him. Not overly shocked, he can only apologise because she knows it most likely happened. As she looks out of the window, she sees guests starting to arrive for a party they always host every year at their estate. They are mostly older, white and wealthy people who take a keen interest in Chris and again, love to point out how much they know about African Americans, one loves Tiger Woods, another stating that black guys are better in bed, some like his body, which causes him to want to slip away and as he takes a seat, he meets a blind man. He's an art dealer that Chris knows about, but also he knows of Chris's photography work and is a fan. Envious of Chris's eye for detail, he states he once tried that type of art but was pretty bad at it.
Chris goes back to the main bulk of guests and finds another black guy, around the same age, whom he tried to bond with. He's really unnatural in stance and quite stiff, kind of like the maid and the gardener, something is off with him but its hard to tell what. Mainly Chris seems to recognise the face of the guy. In order to get back to some sort of reality, Chris checks in with his mate again, and finds his phone unplugged and dead. He plugs it in and fills in Rod, his friend, with what's been going on. Rod is a little freaked out and cant help but think that these a rich white folk are brainwashing black guys into being their sex slaves! He asks for a picture of this other black dude in order to find out who he is. Rose enters and tried to calm him saying he's being paranoid in a new situation. As Chris tries to leave, Georgina is blocking his way and says sorry for the phone unplugging. When he says the words, 'I didn't mean to rat you out' she didn't understand so he explains further and she lets out a single tear saying that they all treat her like family. There was a slight jolt forward of the head as if something else was going to be said but was stopped abruptly. What was that about?! He may not have noticed but I did. He goes back downstairs to try and take the picture but forgets about the flash and starts all sorts of chaos as the guy goes from all posh, to raving made, nose bleeding, he rushes Chris screaming 'Get Out', hey, he said the title!
By this point Rose is freaking out too, asking what the hell happened, her dad explains it was a seizure to the flash, the man comes out and apologises for what happened and everyone has an awkward giggle.
Later Chris and Rose go for a walk where he explains that he recognises that guy and something is definitely weird and strange things are going on. She can't help but agree and they discuss about leaving with some sort of excuse to rid them of the trip. Back at the house, the father, Dean is holding an auction and as the camera pans out, we see him standing next to a picture of Chris. The winner of the auction is non other than the blind art dealer we had already met. A few hours later we see all the other guests returning to their cars and beginning their journey home. The departing couple walk past the parents and brother to enter the house, whilst the family are wearing devious smiles. Chris runs upstairs to pack his belongings in a panicked state, and rushes Rose to do the same. Rod calls and says that the picture he sent was of a guy they knew who had gone missing without explanation. The battery dies and Chris notices the closest door is open, as anyone would do, he pops for a look. Finding a box, he opens and it contains pictures of Rose with what looks like other boyfriends, all of who were black and there was even one of her with Georgina. Does Rose know about all these auctions? Or is she hypnotised to forget, I asked my fellow viewer sitting next to me.
As they retreat downstairs, Jeremy is standing at the front door with a lacrosse racket, spinning it eerily around, as the father walks up to the fireplace, the mother appears and Chris pleads for Rose to search for the keys in her bag. As she looks, Jeremy takes a swipe at Chris, missing, again there's a shout out for those keys. Rose in a panic still cant find them. She asks what the hell is going on and another couple of swipes miss. One final beg for those keys end with Rose calming saying that she can't give them to him, the bitch was in on it all along. Mrs Hypnosis has a chance, she grabs the spoon and clinks it against her glass, leading Chris to fall back into the dark void and he does fall back, straight to the ground like a sack of shit.
We are treated to Rod going to the police station with his theory on what is happening, only for the detectives to laugh in his face. It was a comical moment to be fair, so they can't be blamed for adding it to a serious horror. Chris wakes to find himself strapped to a chair and a small TV turns on to show a video of the family talking about immortality. He looks down to see that his nails have scratched through to the stuffing in the chair. The Tea cup comes on again and TING TING, he's out like a light. By now I'm still wondering what is actually going on here. Are they brainwashing these people for sex slaves, I don't think so but they are doing something to them. This time Chris wakes up to the art dealer on TV for a live conversation and I'm thinking they are stealing body parts, maybe he'll want his eyes? By now Ron had been on the phone to Rose and realising something was wrong, tried to record their chat. She'd tried to say that he had left two days ago in a cab acting all weird, but it soon changes when she knows that she's caught out and calls Ron out for fancying a piece of her, to which he calls her a crazy bitch and hangs up. Back to the basement and Chris is getting filled in that, in fact, Jim the art dealer will be having a brain transplant but Chris will continue in the dark void as a sort of passenger after the surgery which the man of the house will perform. Here comes that tea spoon again.
Jim is prepped for surgery whilst Jeremy is set to move an unconscious Chris to the operating table. As he turns to prep the wheel chair, Chris wasn't unconscious, he'd stuffed the cotton wool from the hole in the chair and put it in his ears to stop the effects of hypnosis, he quickly smashes Jeremy over the head a couple of times and makes a break for the door. Dean the father, calls down the hallway for his son, only to be greeted, by a now bad ass Chris, rushing at him with a deer's head taken from the wall, impaling him with the antlers. He crawls, tugging at a blanket that knocks a candle and begins a fire, over the ready and willing art dealer. Rose is shot, sitting on her bed, unawares and already picking out her next potential target, this time a college basketball player. Chris runs upstairs, to find the mother, Missy in shock that he is still standing, eyes the tea cup but Chris gets to it first and smashes it across the floor. Instead she turns at him with a knife that he manages to wrestle from her grasp and stabs her to death, is there nothing that he won't do to escape now. As the walk for the door seems an easy one, Jeremy is back, head gushing but still enough in the tank to put Chris in a choke hold. He breaks free though and finally puts an end to this freak by kicking him to death. He runs outside and gets into Jeremy's car for a quick escape. As he heads down the driveway, Georgina flies over the bonnet and his first thought is that he can't leave her like that, he has to try and save her, something he couldn't do for his mother. That thought is always the one to catch people out. She wakes up and attacks him, causing him to drive head first into a tree and now she's added to the body count.
Suddenly the back window is blown apart, here comes Rose with a gun. He's begging her to stop but she is more worried about the condition of Georgina, the vessel that his housing her Grandmother, what a family. From out of nowhere, the gardener, Walter runs and tackles Chris to the words 'Kill him grandpa' from Rose. Well now we know where he is too. Chris gets his flash out again and Walter stands with the gun and ends up blowing a hole in Rose, turns, lifts the gun and ends his own suffering. Rose is on the ground bleeding out and Chris sits over her, making sure she's not going to get back up. A police car turns up and I was thinking the worst, the copper from earlier won't stand for this shit. Instead it was Ron to the rescue. He gives his friend a look and utters nothing but, 'I told you not to go in that house!'
Brilliant, what a ride. I enjoyed this movie because it kept you interested in what was actually happening, was everyone involved and will they actually escape. The major talking point would be the cultural differences that the main character has to weave through, through a lifetime of practice with dealing with discrimination. The genre of horror has all kinds of smaller categories inside it and this one builds on societies anxieties towards the social build on skin colour. Peele has worked well on this movie and the underlying tone that a black man would be killed for the colour of his skin is a massive reminder that racism is scarier in society than any movie in the cinema because its real. As for the other aspects of genre, it showed that it didn't need to be overly gory, it didn't need to have a massive amount of jump scares, but it could make you feel uneasy for the most part and bring fear that you didn't know you had.
Chris goes back to the main bulk of guests and finds another black guy, around the same age, whom he tried to bond with. He's really unnatural in stance and quite stiff, kind of like the maid and the gardener, something is off with him but its hard to tell what. Mainly Chris seems to recognise the face of the guy. In order to get back to some sort of reality, Chris checks in with his mate again, and finds his phone unplugged and dead. He plugs it in and fills in Rod, his friend, with what's been going on. Rod is a little freaked out and cant help but think that these a rich white folk are brainwashing black guys into being their sex slaves! He asks for a picture of this other black dude in order to find out who he is. Rose enters and tried to calm him saying he's being paranoid in a new situation. As Chris tries to leave, Georgina is blocking his way and says sorry for the phone unplugging. When he says the words, 'I didn't mean to rat you out' she didn't understand so he explains further and she lets out a single tear saying that they all treat her like family. There was a slight jolt forward of the head as if something else was going to be said but was stopped abruptly. What was that about?! He may not have noticed but I did. He goes back downstairs to try and take the picture but forgets about the flash and starts all sorts of chaos as the guy goes from all posh, to raving made, nose bleeding, he rushes Chris screaming 'Get Out', hey, he said the title!
By this point Rose is freaking out too, asking what the hell happened, her dad explains it was a seizure to the flash, the man comes out and apologises for what happened and everyone has an awkward giggle.
Later Chris and Rose go for a walk where he explains that he recognises that guy and something is definitely weird and strange things are going on. She can't help but agree and they discuss about leaving with some sort of excuse to rid them of the trip. Back at the house, the father, Dean is holding an auction and as the camera pans out, we see him standing next to a picture of Chris. The winner of the auction is non other than the blind art dealer we had already met. A few hours later we see all the other guests returning to their cars and beginning their journey home. The departing couple walk past the parents and brother to enter the house, whilst the family are wearing devious smiles. Chris runs upstairs to pack his belongings in a panicked state, and rushes Rose to do the same. Rod calls and says that the picture he sent was of a guy they knew who had gone missing without explanation. The battery dies and Chris notices the closest door is open, as anyone would do, he pops for a look. Finding a box, he opens and it contains pictures of Rose with what looks like other boyfriends, all of who were black and there was even one of her with Georgina. Does Rose know about all these auctions? Or is she hypnotised to forget, I asked my fellow viewer sitting next to me.
As they retreat downstairs, Jeremy is standing at the front door with a lacrosse racket, spinning it eerily around, as the father walks up to the fireplace, the mother appears and Chris pleads for Rose to search for the keys in her bag. As she looks, Jeremy takes a swipe at Chris, missing, again there's a shout out for those keys. Rose in a panic still cant find them. She asks what the hell is going on and another couple of swipes miss. One final beg for those keys end with Rose calming saying that she can't give them to him, the bitch was in on it all along. Mrs Hypnosis has a chance, she grabs the spoon and clinks it against her glass, leading Chris to fall back into the dark void and he does fall back, straight to the ground like a sack of shit.
We are treated to Rod going to the police station with his theory on what is happening, only for the detectives to laugh in his face. It was a comical moment to be fair, so they can't be blamed for adding it to a serious horror. Chris wakes to find himself strapped to a chair and a small TV turns on to show a video of the family talking about immortality. He looks down to see that his nails have scratched through to the stuffing in the chair. The Tea cup comes on again and TING TING, he's out like a light. By now I'm still wondering what is actually going on here. Are they brainwashing these people for sex slaves, I don't think so but they are doing something to them. This time Chris wakes up to the art dealer on TV for a live conversation and I'm thinking they are stealing body parts, maybe he'll want his eyes? By now Ron had been on the phone to Rose and realising something was wrong, tried to record their chat. She'd tried to say that he had left two days ago in a cab acting all weird, but it soon changes when she knows that she's caught out and calls Ron out for fancying a piece of her, to which he calls her a crazy bitch and hangs up. Back to the basement and Chris is getting filled in that, in fact, Jim the art dealer will be having a brain transplant but Chris will continue in the dark void as a sort of passenger after the surgery which the man of the house will perform. Here comes that tea spoon again.
Jim is prepped for surgery whilst Jeremy is set to move an unconscious Chris to the operating table. As he turns to prep the wheel chair, Chris wasn't unconscious, he'd stuffed the cotton wool from the hole in the chair and put it in his ears to stop the effects of hypnosis, he quickly smashes Jeremy over the head a couple of times and makes a break for the door. Dean the father, calls down the hallway for his son, only to be greeted, by a now bad ass Chris, rushing at him with a deer's head taken from the wall, impaling him with the antlers. He crawls, tugging at a blanket that knocks a candle and begins a fire, over the ready and willing art dealer. Rose is shot, sitting on her bed, unawares and already picking out her next potential target, this time a college basketball player. Chris runs upstairs, to find the mother, Missy in shock that he is still standing, eyes the tea cup but Chris gets to it first and smashes it across the floor. Instead she turns at him with a knife that he manages to wrestle from her grasp and stabs her to death, is there nothing that he won't do to escape now. As the walk for the door seems an easy one, Jeremy is back, head gushing but still enough in the tank to put Chris in a choke hold. He breaks free though and finally puts an end to this freak by kicking him to death. He runs outside and gets into Jeremy's car for a quick escape. As he heads down the driveway, Georgina flies over the bonnet and his first thought is that he can't leave her like that, he has to try and save her, something he couldn't do for his mother. That thought is always the one to catch people out. She wakes up and attacks him, causing him to drive head first into a tree and now she's added to the body count.
Suddenly the back window is blown apart, here comes Rose with a gun. He's begging her to stop but she is more worried about the condition of Georgina, the vessel that his housing her Grandmother, what a family. From out of nowhere, the gardener, Walter runs and tackles Chris to the words 'Kill him grandpa' from Rose. Well now we know where he is too. Chris gets his flash out again and Walter stands with the gun and ends up blowing a hole in Rose, turns, lifts the gun and ends his own suffering. Rose is on the ground bleeding out and Chris sits over her, making sure she's not going to get back up. A police car turns up and I was thinking the worst, the copper from earlier won't stand for this shit. Instead it was Ron to the rescue. He gives his friend a look and utters nothing but, 'I told you not to go in that house!'
Brilliant, what a ride. I enjoyed this movie because it kept you interested in what was actually happening, was everyone involved and will they actually escape. The major talking point would be the cultural differences that the main character has to weave through, through a lifetime of practice with dealing with discrimination. The genre of horror has all kinds of smaller categories inside it and this one builds on societies anxieties towards the social build on skin colour. Peele has worked well on this movie and the underlying tone that a black man would be killed for the colour of his skin is a massive reminder that racism is scarier in society than any movie in the cinema because its real. As for the other aspects of genre, it showed that it didn't need to be overly gory, it didn't need to have a massive amount of jump scares, but it could make you feel uneasy for the most part and bring fear that you didn't know you had.
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