Who knew a horror movie could spark a conversation on racism? 

Peele decided to give it a try and well...  it worked. The parallels between the sunken place and Chris fighting for his life were heart wrenching. At least Peele had the right idea in changing the ending. The audience needed a hero by that point. If the system had brought Chris down after all of that, which is where my mind went with the flashing lights, it would have been too much to handle. Accurate, but still too much. Instead, I was left with an uplifting feeling after all the darkness. Plus… that one line at the end. I was falling off the couch with laughter. 

A few little facts. Get Out was nominated for an Academy Award in 2018, which is how the movie fell into my radar. It won an Oscar for best original screenplay. And it was made on a really small budget in movie terms. The movie is about a black man named Chris who is meeting his white girlfriend’s family for the time. Everything seems fine until Chris is hypnotized by the mother, which spurs on a string of weird events. Because Chris might not be the first black man his girlfriend has brought home.  

I had expected Get Out to be a lot scarier. There was a moment of panic when the Blumhouse logo appeared, but carry on I did. I had watched Split, another Blumhouse movie, and it wasn’t all that bad. The terror factor was on the lighter side for me, but after hearing Peele talk about his inspiration for the film, I might be alone. There’s so much depth in the movie. Essentially, all of Peele’s fears made it in. But don’t worry. For my readers who can’t stomach Paranormal Activity, I think you’re safe to watch Get Out. The real scare factor comes from how realistic the movie felt. Yes, you must suspend your disbelief on one point, but the accuracy of the friend’s responses and the way Chris had to fight for his life were perfect. I’m down for these realistic movies. When the viewer watches the character’s perform unrealistic stunts in order to survive, they are pulled out of the moment. And if these movies aren’t real, how else are we going to study if we’re kidnapped or the zombies come to life? 

Still nothing was perfect about Get Out. Oh how I wanted it to be so much better. 

See… now… the foreshadowing was blatantly in your face. It was too easy to spot the horror movie plot points. If thebad guy points at a door and says it’s locked because there’s black mold down there… Do you see what I’m trying to say? These moments littered the story. I ended up guessing the movie really early on. Rewatch and you’ll also see how obvious it was. Peele, though I won’t watch US, I really love your work. Just don’t spell out the movie five minutes in. 

With that, I got into the movie by the second half. Like a debut book, the movie changed shape here. It was like something clicked in Peele and he got it. The whole production went up a notch in quality, dropping the B rated movie feels in the first half. Then you come to the ending, the part that probably saved the whole movie for me. Peele got some M. Night Shyamalan style points there. Did I just give too much of the movie away? 

Let’s take a second and talk about Rose - hopefully without any spoilers. She was the one part of the movie that I kept guessing about. The one that gave me goosebumps. Not until it was revealed did I know the truth - though I wasn’t shocked. What shocked me was when she was upstairs in her room eating the cereal. I suggest you pay attention to all the details to get the full scoop of her mind. A perfect example of a well developed character, something I feel like I’ve been harping on a lot lately. Probably because I’m developing the characters in my next book, so the idea is on my mind. All the characters were well developed too. Chris’s backstory about his mom was heart wrenching. Another reason that the audience needed a happy ending. And Peele didn’t make the common mistake of letting Chris’s story hang there. Instead, it came around perfectly to tie in with the ending. 

Get Out was the movie that surprised me. This is why I watch outside of my favorite genres. You never know what you might be missing. I wouldn’t have liked missing out on this one. This movie is also going to kick off my watching of Academy Award winning movies from the past decade. How am I going to win an Oscar someday if I don’t study up on what is winning? And maybe figuring out the beginning so quickly is a sign that I’m finally on the right path in my life.

Happy Watching

Love Kait