Us (2019): Review

Only Jordan Peele could make me cackle with laughter whilst being genuinely so tense and terrified, and he did multiple times in Us.

I have deliberately not watched a single trailer, or read anything to do with the film. I knew for a fact that the film would have been an entirely different experience if I knew anything about it and I am so thankful to my past self for doing so.

Us is one of those horror movies that does everything I love about the genre. I don’t know if I have written about this before, but I am a solid fan of horror that creeps the hell out of you without using the cheap jump scare. Don’t get me wrong there are a few moments that will make you jump out of your seat, but as I said, they are not cheap, they pay off, and you know are actually scary.

Peele has done a masterful job at employing one of my favourite horror methods, the Uncanny Valley. And it is pretty much where most of the horror comes from and has left me squirming and getting the shivers an hour after seeing the film.

This wouldn’t have been achieved if it wasn’t for the incredible performances from all of the actors, but I’m going to have a shout out to Lupita Nyong’o and Shahadi Wright Joseph who were both genuinely incredible in their dual roles. Nyong’o had so many nuances to her performance that just chilled me to the bone. I’m going to leave it at that as I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone!

The whole film was an incredible experience, that was only doubled by the score. Similarly to the performances, the score kept me so on edge throughout the whole film and was wonderfully cut up by some incredible song choices that were at times, hilarious.

This is what I love about Us, in particular, is how much comedy has been popped into the film, and I am genuinely so thankful for it because my little heart couldn’t handle being so tense for that long. But also everything is genuinely funny, the jokes aren’t crow-barred in willy nilly, they are intelligently placed and all feel natural.

Although it is early days I must say that Jordan Peele seems to be knocking so many of my top horror films off their pedestals, first with Get Out and now with Us, that is perhaps one of my all-time favourite modern horror films and I cannot wait to rush to see it again!

I’m giving Us (2019) a 10/10!!

By Siobhan Eardley.