Us Parent Guide

Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong’o) returns to her childhood home near Santa Cruz for a relaxing vacation with her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and two children, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex). However, Adelaide wishes for the family to avoid the boardwalk, as she had experienced a traumatic event in a house of mirrors as a young child. Unable to persuade Gabe to avoid the area, she relents on the condition that they return before nightfall. The Wilsons have a pleasant time at the beach, but later that night Jason notices a strange family standing in the darkness at the end of their driveway. A family which looks eerily familiar but behaves very strangely. A family dressed in identical red jumpsuits and carrying sharp golden scissors…

Director Jordan Peele of Get Out fame is intent on making the kind of horror movies that I love to watch, and while Us is certainly not connected thematically or tonally to his Oscar-winning directorial debut, it is the same style of existential horror. Us doesn’t rely on the goofy unwarranted jump scares of a film like The Possession of Hannah Grace, replaced instead with the long takes of terrified characters trying to find what lurks in the shadows. This more thematic and tonal approach to horror wouldn’t work without Peele’s focus on strong and memorable imagery, which he delivers in Us.

Equally critical to the success of this film is some impressive acting from the principal cast, all of whom play both themselves and their unsettling doppelgangers. In the case of Lupita Nyong’o especially, these performances drive the film. Nyong’o, while not responsible for all of the scares, carries more than any other actor and does so with chilling and horrifying ease.

All of these exemplary production elements are tied together with a compelling soundtrack which mixes covers and original compositions smoothly. More importantly, they work together to bolster the tone Peele creates with his strong visual design and elegant camera work.

That being said, this is not a family film. The violence is grisly and disturbing, and the profanity is frequent. On top of that, it’s unbelievably terrifying, and definitely not suitable for young or sensitive viewers, although you could probably have guessed most of this from its Restricted rating. As you may have noticed, I really like this movie. I don’t think it’s quite as strong as Get Out, which is easily one of my all-time favorites in the horror genre, but it is nonetheless an excellent entry from Peele. If you’re an adult fan of creepy horror, join the rest of Us and give Us a view.