Hello everybody and welcome back to a second horror movie reflection. This time on the movie Get Out directed by Jordan Peele. Get Out uses the ideas of casual/modern racism. What I mean by that is the racism of people trying to be to “woke” or apologetic for the past, and trying too hard to make it back up to black people. SPOILER WARNING!!!

The plot of the movie is about a black man who is dating a white woman and goes to meet her parents for the first time. Once he’s there he’s instantly a little uncomfortable due to the family having a black groundskeeper and a black maid. Seeing as this is a horror movie his uncomfortableness and suspicions were correct. The family auctioned his body off to transplant an old white man’s brain inside of this young black man’s body.

This is a great horror movie and a great movie in general. What makes it scary to us is the idea that someone could be playing with our conscience. In the movie Chris (the main character) gets hypnotized by his girlfriend’s mom. This hypnotism is how they are planning to steal his conscience and put another body inside of him, something they had done numerous times. This is a very scary thing to think about because how are we ever supposed to know if its happened to us. This is a horror movie that when you watch it, there’s a sense that this could actually happen and is happening around the world. In the movie Chris meets multiple people who have had this happen to him at the family gathering. As we find out later in the film both the maid and the groundskeeper had been hypnotized and had their bodies stolen. They were the two grandparents of the family inside the bodies of these innocent black people. We also meet another black man who looked very familiar to Chris at this party the family were holding, who acted so quintessentially white. It instantly made you suspicious. However when Chris took a photo of him that accidentally had the flash still on, the man lost his fake conscience and tried to warn Chris by attacking him. This is where we saw the fact that these people were still apart of their bodies but had no control. They were a passenger inside their own head.

The motivation behind the characters in the story is completely based off modern media. These old white people see the young black men as “hip” and “in-style”. They all want to be black because of the supposed strength and athletic ability they would receive. There’s even a joke in the movie where an older woman who is with an old man in a wheel chair asks rose if “it’s” much better. Obviously referencing the common belief of a bigger male area on a black man. This joke seems like it’s just supposed to be a funny poke at this societal belief, however when we realize what Chris is actually here for, the joke is completely a part of the story. Had Rose said yes, this woman would’ve 100% bid more for her old crippled husband to replace his body.

As you would know if you read my last post, we recently read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. In our modern day society Frankenstein as it was written in the early 1800s isn’t that scary anymore. It focuses more on the psychological aspect of horror and the horror inside our own heads. The way it was written back then must’ve been terrifying, truly horrific. Now it’s *shrugs shoulders* “meh”. We can and can’t relate to the horror of creating a monster who kills everybody you love, or the other way round, being so ugly that everyone was to kill you. As I mentioned in my previous post, horror pretty much went away from this fear of ourselves and our brain. Horror became more about gory deaths and high kill counts, less so about a strong storyline à la John Carpenter’s Halloween. However horror changes alongside society. These iconic movie killers are turning to be a thing of the past. They just aren’t seen to be quite as scary as other forms of horror. Although I disagree, these slasher movies are just as terrifying as psychological ones, that’s just because I’m scared of most horror movies though. Anyways, the mental side of horror is back in fashion. This movie does a very good job of turning something that everyday isn’t necessarily seen as scary in hypnosis, into something terrifying. Horror has come around in a full circle back to it’s origins. From Frankenstein to Halloween back to Get Out.

Get Out is very different from most horror films as there really is no way to predict what’s about to happen. Horror movies are very well known for having a set of tropes that each one follows. It really is rare to see something that truly surprised you in a horror film. That’s why Get Out is such a great movie. It builds up suspense and anticipation just to lead to nothing. This movie more than any other horror film I’ve watched (which isn’t many) had me the most on the edge of my seat. I was scared while not being scared. The movie doesn’t use much in the way of jump scares, instead of just letting the fear fade out. Although it is a horror film so there are a couple of notable jump scares. The movie does an excellent job of being creepy. Whether it’s the maid turning her head ridiculously quickly to look at you, or the groundskeeper sprinting right past you in the dark, it gets hard to watch in the way a horror movie wants to be. The other big thing that makes this movie so creepy, has to be the set. The house is its own neighbourhood. Chris has obviously walked into a very wealthy white household. There is nowhere to escape which gives off this feeling of being trapped.

In conclusion this is my favourite horror movie I’ve ever watched, possibly one of my favourite movies altogether. Even being terrified at times, there was never a thought that I could walk out of the room and hide. I was too into the story to do such a thing. As I said in the last post, I really liked Halloween but I wouldn’t watch it again. However, Get Out is different. I’ve never been into horror movies and they are not something my family watches together. Although I really do think I will watch Get Out again. I have even recommended it to my parents as something to watch. Which I did not anticipate would be the outcome of any of the movies we were going to watch during this unit. So Get Out gets the very exclusive stamp of approval from me.