US

Us Movie Review

As a child, Adelaide Wilson has a scary moment in a fun house on Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk--she comes across her doppelganger in a mirror. Fast forward 25 years, and the adult Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o, Black Panther) and her family return to the boardwalk for a summer retreat. The doppelganger returns as well, and now, she has company. Jordan Peele (Get Out) brings us this slick 2019 film that inspired a house at this year's Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights--in fact, it was after going through this house a few times that my girlfriend and I decided we must watch this movie before going back through the house. Speaking of Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, if you're a fan of The Lost Boys, you know this location immediately, and there is a nice reference to that vampire classic in this movie.

Be sure to look up!

Once we get past the impressive opener and to the modern time, the first thing you may notice about this movie is how likable adult Adelaide and her husband Gabriel (Winston Duke, also of Black Panther) are. A good amount of time is spent developing their characters, which builds nicely into the rest of the film. Once the duplicates (called "The Tethered" here) appear, the scares come quick and often. The idea of this movie is an interesting one--there is an alternate version of us in the underground living out the motions of our lives without the emotions, and they are planning an uprising--the idea is more interesting when you drop the obvious political statement and look at it strictly on a horror level. Nyong'o is really good as Adelaide and her tethered counterpart--Duke is almost as good. The pacing is practically perfect--the film is almost two hours long, but never drags at any point. There is plenty of violence and many death scenes; though, save for a moment or two, they are never as graphic as one might expect, with much of the bloodshed being shot wide or occurring off screen entirely. The ending provides a nice twist--a second viewing may be necessary to fully understand it. Us is not a great horror film, but it does have many creepy moments, so I do recommend it...I can also appreciate the house at Halloween Horror Nights more the next time I walk through it. 

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 7

Us Movie Trailer