Us: The Best Horror Movie I've Seen in a While

To call Us "just" a horror movie would be to do a grave disservice to both this impressively intelligent thriller and what it accomplishes. Jordan Peele has delivered a haunting, unpredictable, and wildly original rollercoaster ride of a film with the mind of a master tactician, the hands of a daringly unorthodox artist, and the homicidal glee of a psychopathic child. This is one of those movies where the less you know about it, the better it is to watch for the first time, in part because it is, by nature, an extremely unpredictable experience, but mostly because it's also an extremely clever experience predicated on a clever premise. The Wilson family needs a vacation, just like the rest of us. Their minds are set on all the sights they expect to see on their getaway, sights like a vacation home, a beach, and a dinged-up and disgusting old motorboat that Gabe, the lighthearted dad of the family, is determined to have his way with. What doesn't come to their minds is a mysterious, red-clad, scissors-wielding "family" of doppelgangers, each look-alike bearing the image of one of the Wilsons. In the world of Us, what is mysterious becomes sinister, what is sinister becomes deadly, and what is deadly becomes conspiratorial faster than you can say Ophelia, call the police.

The first thing anyone notices about a movie is what it looks like. First impressions are more important than some souls less cynical than I would believe them to be, and colorists Michael Hatzer and Chris Jensen are the unsung heroes of Us. The opening moments of the movie are set in a haunted house attraction on the beach, a dark, stylistic, and spooky horror show of blues and yellows that sets an eerie tone, pairing very well with the movie's concept of dangerous doppelgangers. I'd encourage you to walk into Us either blind or drunk, both if you can manage it. From its visuals to its atmosphere, it's an intensely eerie watch, one that manages to feel equally frightening and unsettlingly familiar.

Between the meet-the-parents-of-Rosemary's-Baby scenario that Get Out was to the cowboy UFO story on crack in Nope to the alter ego horror show of Us, Jordan Peele has a penchant for crafting horror movies that stand out in a crowd, though tones of race may be a creative throughline between all three of these projects. I would be remiss to forgo commending the man's creativity. The concept of Us is off-the-wall bizarre, an absurd and unsettling vision that I can think of no realistic comparison to. It's a mysterious occurrence, and it lacks enough of a frame of reference to fall into the trap of becoming anything less, even as we learn more and more about who these red-clad killers are and where they come from. I probably don't need to tell you that Us is a movie with a keen eye for a clever twist, and the twists of this film - yes, plural - make for some of the most unsettling and unprecedented moments I've ever experienced in my run as a movie critic or even as a mere movie watcher. They're smart, subtle, and terrifyingly executed - emphasis on the execute.

Us takes the thesis of its dangerous doppelgangers and pushes the logical limits of this strange phenomenon to the brink in ways that remain smart and shocking clean through its two-hour and one-minute runtime. You might catch yourself going whoa; every single revelation in this movie fits perfectly with the others like pieces of a spooky puzzle. Nevertheless, the surprises never grow any less surprising, and each new revelation brings new horrors that this surprisingly likable family of characters must navigate. Us has a brilliant mind, yes, but it also has a healthy heart. The family at the core of the film is a crack team of well-balanced personalities, between the light-hearted and humorous Gabe, the traumatized and serious Adelaide, the traditionally teenager-y Zora, and the young, reserved, and unsettlingly weird Jason. It's hard to write four drastically different and equally likable characters for one story, but Peele both realizes and wields his cast with audacious and assured deftness. It's easy to write a horror movie. It's hard to write a smart horror movie with a cast of characters blessed with genuinely likable personalities to the point where you're rooting for them rather than actively rooting for their demise. This is one of those movies where I was eager to uncover the answers to the many mysteries it presented, but not to the point where I wished it would be over. Us is the best horror movie I've seen in some time. I would compare it favorably to Hereditary or The Babadook, but Us is a different animal entirely, a beast presenting threats dangerously foreign to the language of horror movies, or any genre, for that matter.

Us doesn't explain everything that happens on-screen, and that's a good thing. It elaborates on just enough to cement its stakes as ominous, its traits as intelligent, and its scenario as blessedly mysterious. And I won't lie, a family being hunted by scissors-wielding doppelgangers is plainly and simply a fun, original idea. Lord knows we could always use more of those nowadays.

Us - 10/10

1 Samuel 16:6-7