Amazingly, I managed to head into Get Out having not even seen the trailer for it. Posts about the movie had been appearing more and more frequently on my news feeds recently though, usually accompanied by a lot of positive buzz, and usually featuring an image of lead character Chris, wide eyed and terrified, with a tear running down his cheek (note that I’ve continued that trend with my review!). Described as a racial satire/horror, it just hadn’t really featured high on my watch list before now, but I booked a ticket to go see it, eager to see what all the buzz was about. I’m kind of glad that I went in relatively blind to the movie if I’m honest, as I was absolutely blown away by it.

Daniel Kaluuya plays Chris, a young black man dating a white girl called Rose (Allison Williams). He’s preparing to go and meet her parents for the first time but is a little unsure as to what they’re going to think about him, despite Rose repeatedly assuring him that he’s got nothing to worry about. When they arrive at their huge house out in the country, her parents really are fine with Chris. And they take every opportunity during their conversations with him to be positive about his race and to assure Chris that they’re fine with him too, to the point where Chris (and us) begin to feel a little bit uneasy. This unease isn’t helped by the fact that there are two black servants in the house, neither of whom have very much to say, and both acting very strangely. Late at night, the housekeeper wanders quietly around the house while the groundsman sprints around outside in the dark!

Paranoia and tension continues when a large group of family friends arrives for a party and they all seem very keen to get to know Chris and bond with him. One of the guests even has a black ‘companion’ who is also acting strangely. Despite the assurances from all, things definitely are not OK…

Of the little I read about Get Out beforehand, one of the reviews that stuck with me most described it a little bit like From Dusk Til Dawn in the way that everything suddenly all goes to shit in a hugely enjoyable and unexpected twist. There are definitely no vampires or anything similar in this movie, but I felt that was a pretty good comparison. The movie spends a long time putting you on the edge of your seat, building up the tension, providing plenty of food for thought on modern day racism and adding the odd bit of welcome comedy relief from Chris’ friend on the end of the phone trying to support him. It’s all hugely enjoyable, and even though you can guess pretty early in the movie what’s going on, it’s still hugely satisfying when the truth finally is revealed and the violence and action are unleashed.

Lee Boardman

Web developer by day, with a movie and TV watchlist that continues to grow as much as my spare time reduces! My favourite movie is Inception and, despite what everyone says, I do not have a man-crush on Tom Cruise.