Get Out

I've seen a lot of poor horror movies lately that have been praised by American critics only because they were gender-progressive or originated in an exotic country and themed some form of oppression. At first glance, Get Out seems exactly like the "we have an explosive racial topic that someone has dealt with in all its explicitness" case, but from the opening scene Peele gives the impression that he is a) an excellent screenwriter who calmly turns a social metaphor into a grotesque slasher without the structure disintegrating, b) a director able to work with subliminal tension, which is guaranteed to escape the local horror experts, but certainly not an audience with a certain degree of cultivated attention to detail. The first third is a socially relevant metaphor for black masks, the middle builds tension, and the final acts offers peppery catharsis. Together, the acts make a film that is a more intelligent and serious reflection of racial identity for me than the whole of Moonlight. I was only bothered by a little superfluous ethereal music and a few places where you can see inside Get Out more than one would like. Otherwise, it’s great. (04/27/2017)

Good, but I think that it’s been way overhyped in America as a result of the racial tone, which resonates more across the pond than in here. What’s interesting, though, is that in the film itself, the racial lines are not that broad and the “raciscm” of the villains is rather superficial. What I find thought-provoking is the controversy about whether the villains make instruments out of the blacks simply because of racism, or because. in many aspects (at least in some cases), they consider them better. But I’m not sure whether that controversy is intentional or whether the script is not entirely clear on what it wants to say. The basic concept is pretty cheesy, certainly more than I had expected. There’s also less horror than I had expected, and more comedy. The comedic moments, in particular, were pretty irritating. I have nothing a priori against comedy elements in horror, but here they clearly disrupted the paranoid atmosphere (laughter doesn’t go very well with it) and, to my taste, the humour was very simple, though effective. Instead of that, I would have welcomed a broader explanation of the mechanism of what is actually happening to those black people, because the film addresses it only very roughly, to the point that it gave me a messy impression. And I was also slightly disappointed that it was missing a surprising moment. Yeah, the premise overall is original, but the plot moves within relatively predictable lines – I figured out the one relatively big twist ten minutes in advance. Things should have got moving after that, but instead, they were over pretty quickly. The comment may sound too critical, but that’s because I was really convinced I was going to see the best horror film in recent years. Not even by chance, but it is certainly a good film. Edit: After the second viewing my quibbles have disappeared. It’s awesome! The explanations of the events turned out to be enough and the second time you can really enjoy those little nuances in the performances that show that the whole thing is excellently thought-out. (04/28/2017)

The atmosphere of the film Get Out is its strong point, where some scenes are truly shot so hauntingly uncomfortably that you'll be stunned. The scene with the runner, for example, literally gives me chills. But the real strong element of the film is the performances, especially Daniel Kaluuya and the actors portraying the Armitage household, who deliver incredible performances primarily through facial expressions and emotions. A great experience seen in the movie theater! (04/28/2017)

I was a bit concerned this would turn into another campaign for the rights of the American minority, of which there is enough everywhere these days. Partially it did, but the story was written in such a way that it didn’t get annoying. By that I mean that I had a pretty good time watching it, because the mean white people were really sneaky, Daniel Kaluuya was impressively flashing his eyeballs, and Rod's visit to the police station was hilarious. I just wouldn't go so far as to call this a horror film. (01/03/2020)

There's a bit of a nervous director's claw in the horror scenes, and as a result the finale doesn't destroy you as much as it should, but up until that point it's such an apt and poignant escalation of the "black mask" issue that it's just impossible not to enjoy it. I'm rooting for commercial success to the hilt. As the cliché goes: it makes it real. Tarantino must have snorted with delight at this one. (04/29/2017)