Get Out – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

You know how in 2009 people said Orphan would negatively affect adoption rates and how movies like Split give a bad name to those with dissociative identity disorder? Well, Get Out may likely make Black men think twice when it comes to dating white women.

Noted Actor(s)

Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) | Rose (Allison Williams) | Missy (Catherine Keener) | Dean (Bradley Whitford) | Walter (Marcus Henderson) | Georgina (Betty Gabriel) | Rod (Lil’ Rel Howery) | Andrew “Logan” (Lakeith Stanfield)

Characters & Storyline

For four months Chris has dated Rose, and now he is going to her childhood home to meet her parents and brother. Her dad Dean is a neurosurgeon and mom Missy is a psychologist. As for her brother? Well, he is a chip off the old block and seems to want to follow his dad’s path. But while they mostly seem nice, though a little bit awkward and maybe uncomfortable with Chris being Black, then things get weird.

Never mind Missy hypnotizing Chris to get him to stop smoking, but then there are Walter and Georgina who are just a little too friendly. Like “Massa is always watching us” kind of friendly. So the longer Chris spends in the Armitage home, the stranger things get. But being that he refuses to let his friend Rod influence his opinion based on racial paranoia, he tries to stick it out. However, with the discovery of Andrew, known as Logan up where they are, so comes a realization that Rod isn’t just relying on the paranoia Black people have when it comes to white folks and the suburbs. There is some f’d up $h!t going on.

Highlights

This Will Give You Anxiety and Maybe Make You Cry

I avoid horror movies like I avoid going to any place where skinheads or the klan maybe. So why in the hell did I watch this movie is beyond me. First of all, this is a psychological horror movie. The type where, while there are jump scares, what it is mostly about is tension and planting a seed. It knows what it presents is ridiculous, but just thinking about how ridiculous it is gives the seed the nutrients it needs to grow. You start thinking about how all this is illogical but then switch over to imagine how someone could do all that you see, how someone could get away with it, then start thinking about similar situations.

What if instead of being hypnotized and having a slew of things done to you or your body, instead you are lured by some white girl and end up being treated like one of Buffalo Bill’s captives? Maybe instead, you get hypnotized and end up like one of Hannibal Lecter’s victims and watch yourself get eaten. I recognize all of this is nonsense but as much as Chris gets hypnotized and fear hits him to the point of crying, as that seed’s roots burrow into your brain, you get the same experience.

Race & Culture

This movie was made by a Black man, who is married to a white woman, and who comes from a Black dad who had a white mom. Throughout the film, you recognize how this combination affected the interactions and dialog. Be it how Rod speaks to Chris, how Rose sometimes plays off Chris’ fears of meeting her parents, or the way Black people socialize with one another even when we are strangers. This film has characters who aren’t stripped of their background and culture and I feel the need to applaud that.

On The Fence

The Fate of Andrew & The Others

Major spoiler: we never learn what happened to Andrew and the movie ends without us learning what happened to the others. Which I must admit I am left feeling kind of eh about. For while the movie is an hour and 43 minutes, according to IMDB, you are so immersed you don’t ever have the need to check your watch. However, with that said, while you would like to see Andrew and the man others rescued, let’s be real, Chris is not trying to be a hero but simply survive. Also, while Rod reps being TSA and how they are underestimated in their skills, he is not really trying to become a detective and do all that.

Overall: Positive (Worth Seeing) – Recommended

I’m so used to horror movies, especially American horror movies, rely on gore and jump scares. Two things I have grown accustomed to since they are so widely abused. However, psychological horror is rare and with Chris being Black, dating a white woman, and a lot of the warnings and fears being very much of Black culture (or at least in the area I grew up around), I fear I may have a nightmare. Which you may think is a joke for the sake of this review, but I straight up am hoping the seed this movie planted in my head doesn’t haunt my dreams.