At the time of writing, "Get Out" has already outpaced "The Blair Witch Project" as the highest grossing debut movie from a writer-director (Jordan Peele) based on an original screenplay. With more than US$160 million earned at the North American box office alone and still counting, the low-budget horror thriller looks like it is set to break more records in the future. This is especially a rare feat, given the fact that most horror movies are traditionally only front loaded after the opening weekend. Now two months after "Get Out" made its sensational debut in the U.S., we finally get to watch the movie this April at our local cinemas. With that being said, here are the five reasons why you should make a date with "Get Out" as your next movie outing.
It's not every day that we get to see an African-American actor playing a lead in an American horror movie. If you are a horror buff, it's a common knowledge that the leading actor or actress is traditionally white while the African-American is mostly relegated to supporting or minor appearances. But "Get Out" dares to forgo the casting trend in a horror movie by selecting U.K.-born actor Daniel Kaluuya in the lead role. Word is already out that many U.S. critics have sung praises over Kaluuya's tour de force performance as Chris Washington. For those who are not familiar with the actor's name, Kaluuya was most recently seen in "Sicario". His other acting credits include TV's "Black Mirror", "Babylon", "Kick-Ass 2" and "Johnny English Reborn".
We are referring, of course, to the writer-director Jordan Peele himself. Peele is primarily known as a comedian in the popular comedy sketch series, "Key & Peele" alongside Keegan-Michael Key. Both of them also appeared in the kitten-centric action comedy, "Keanu" last year. But "Get Out" marks a radical departure for Peele, who made a sudden transition from a comedy to a horror movie. Well, it turns out that Peele is actually a lifelong horror fan. His five favourite horror movies that inspired him to become a student and filmmaker of the genre includes "Rosemary's Baby", "Jaws", "The Shining", "Gremlins" and "Misery". No doubt these five horror movies are among the best the genre has ever delivered.
No horror movies would be complete without an antagonist. It could be a masked serial killer, a boogeyman, a supernatural demon or a psychopath. Instead, "Get Out" uses racial tension to inject the scare factor into the movie. The movie also tapped on another recognisable fear that most of us can relate to: fear of meeting the in-laws.
Mention the words "horror comedy", and it's easy to recall notable filmmakers like Sam Raimi with his "Evil Dead" trilogy and Edgar Wright with his "Shaun Of The Dead" movie, however, "Get Out" isn't that kind of horror comedy. Here, the humour is dark and macabre that mostly deals with the racial issue in America. Besides, the comedy elements featured in "Get Out" will also mark something different than what Peele usually did during his "Key & Peele" era.
Horror movies are often an easy target for critics. Most of the horror movies these days do admittedly get a bad rep, but there are times where recent horror movies like "The Conjuring", "The Babadook" and "The Witch" manage to sit well with critics. As for "Get Out", it was an especially notable achievement to see a horror movie receiving a near-perfect 99 per cent rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. "Get Out" opens in cinemas nationwide on 20 April 2017.