Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ scares up $30.5M debut

Credit goes to the film itself, a movie that combines horror, comedy, and social commentary better than any film in recent memory. It’s 2017, and the Get Out writer and director Jordan Peele (of “Key and Peele” fame) is helping catch Hollywood up. Second: Peele lets the scene play out like a familiar horror movie sequence, complete with stabbing musical jump-cues, canny tension-building camera movement, and sudden, shocking action.

A black man named Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) travels upstate with his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) to meet her parents, when things get weird and out of hand in unexpected ways. Logan (Keith Stanfield), a guest at a party Rose’s parents throw, sets off alarm bells when he reacts to Chris’s attempted fist bump with a downright Trumpian handshake. Instead of beating around the bush with this huge element of the plot, Peele thrusts it into the middle of the room like a lit candle.

The film constantly has you on the edge of your seat, wondering what sort of dread awaits the main character. Peele is fearless, but doesn’t need a soapbox.

If tragedy plus time equals comedy; immediacy plus racial politics equals horror.

Little does he know exactly how nervous he should be.

It’s also very amusing, with many scenes between Chris and his friend Rod talking on the phone, providing the audience with endless laughter while still being scared. It picked up $10.8 million on Friday, a figure that easily blows past the reported $4.5 million budget.

Get Out’s star David Kaluuya perfectly captures both Chris’ reluctance in putting himself in what he anticipates (based on his life experiences) will be a hard, uncomfortable situation and his reaction once he’s proven correct in his assessment of the quickly escalating life or death situation. “If we were in a postracial society”, he says, “I would not feel like a token black guy in a room full of white people trying to connect with me about basketball”.

Three more movies will arrive in theaters next weekend. And many more significant weird events leave Chris wondering whether something inimical is going on, or he’s just being paranoid. What is going on? It’s intense, but not so horrifying that it will leave you crying. Here, there’s no slowing down and the end is messy, but Peele earns the gore with his setup. After seeing the movie, I still can’t seem to put my finger on exactly what genre this film belongs in, but that’s OK, because it’s still one hell of a ride no matter what label it holds. Not only did it debut at number one, the film now holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes with 134 positive reviews.

Given how predictable the horror genre can be, Peele does a surprisingly good job of avoiding the easy scares – something that speaks volumes to his awareness of the genre and its potential beyond what’s been done time and time before.

Walk into Get Out ready to laugh in a way that makes you uncomfortable at first, but entertained in the end.

“Get Out” is unique, fresh and polished. It’s truly something else.