Writer and director Jordan Peele likes crossing genres. He did it very successfully in his first film, Get Out. for his horror/comedy in which the brains of white people are transplanted into black bodies.
His second movie, Us, is another horror/comedy crossover in which doppelgängers called the ‘tethered’ emerge from their dwelling place in underground tunnels to take over the lives of their counterparts above ground. It follows the Wilson family who soon become terrorised by their doppelgängers, and freakiness ensues.
While the premise is clear enough, about what is actually going on in this film. Nick found it funny and entertaining and packed with ideas, most of which he didn’t get. Fiona raises the point that it could have made an episode of the Twilight Zone (Peele’s next project) rather than an entire movie. It seems to raise far more questions than offer answers or explanations. Whether you’ll find it scary is a whole other matter, but there is no doubt it’s intriguing. Go see what you make of it. Us is in cinemas now.
Also in episode 89 of The Playlist:
- Nick and Fiona discuss the series Project Blue Book, about real cases of UFO sightings across a paranoid post-Cold War America
- Nick interviews Project Blue Book star, Irish actor Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones)
- Nick and Fiona talk about what they’ve been watching. This week, it’s Hollow Man, Room 237 and Dumbo.
Listen to the full episode here:
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