“They won’t stop until they kill us, or we kill them.”

completely mental. Jordan Peele hauls out the big guns to bombard your mind with deeply rooted psychological terror. the Other, the doppelgänger, the monstrosity that looks like you but is so disturbingly inverted and twisted, the repressed that returns to haunt you. to pick up on the primal basis of the american gothic and set it in a postmodern context, how brilliant! 

this refreshing and hilariously dark irony he so well develops is tethered (pun intended) to the bonechilling horror from start to finish. i could often barely breathe because not only was the tension turned up to the max through fineass build-up and atmosphere, but the inherent backwardness was so overwhelming and i felt like laughing and crying simultaneously. Us is a personal attack against my nerves and i’m not mad about it. 

i do think it falters a little towards the end because it’s a bit rushed and i barely got to process any revelations made. leaves you thinking and questioning though, it’s been 5 days since i saw this and i still get the sweats when random shit goes bump in my house. talk about domestic abjection and alienation huh. love that this doesn’t end up being a bloodspill galore; it sure has its triumphant moments but ultimately relies more heavily on the psycho-terror. 

Lupita Nyong’o gives one of my favorite performances of this year so far. she’s a brilliant actress outside of horror but i really think this genre lets her unfold a whole new dimension to her art. Winston Duke and the kids are also great supports. Duke especially forms an energetic counterpart to Nyongo’s calmer demeanor. would also like to say that Elisabeth Moss is unbearable and totally nuts in the best way possible. Peele really brings out the best in his cast. 

between Glass and this, Mike Gioulakis sure is serving good frickn food to us this year, thanks for the gorgeous and disturbing images sir. i’m currently listening to the score as i type this and Michael Abels masterfully captures the doubling horror with a sort of whimsical insanity to it. the chorus of the main theme is the epitome of that. this film is so rich in detail and symbolism that it offers endless rewatchability to dissect it as the horror-loving heart pleases.