REVIEW: ‘Us’ lives up to the horror movie hype

Photo Courtesy of Claudette Barius / Universal Pictures

Lupita Nyong’o playing Adelaide Wilson in Jordan Peele’s recent movie “Us.” Peele’s movie premiered on Mar. 22.

Dominique Walker
April 3, 2019

This review contains spoilers.

The horror movie “Us” is a must-watch film that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the night.

The movie is enjoyable because it is unusual for a “horror” movie to challenge you with context and hidden messages, but still give suspense.

This movie is a 9.5 out of 10.

Knowing Jordan Peele’s work in “Get Out,” I knew I had to stay attentive for hidden messages and themes scattered throughout the plot, so I was excited to catch those.

One of the earlier messages in the film was a sign that had Jeremiah 11:11 written on it. That scripture reads, “Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.”

Not many know what that scripture is, but ultimately this is what set the tone that it was going to be a dark and deep movie.

There are a lot of conspiracies about what “Us” is truly about, but Peele definitely leaves each viewer with their own interpretation of the film.

The overall concept of the film is that the “tethered” in the film were duplicates of every American on the planet. They were banished and lived in underground tunnels and planned an uprising that would include killing their lookalikes.

This made all of the actors and actresses play two different parts in the film. One was the original version of themselves, the other was the tethered version.

It was interesting to see the actors and actresses play two different roles. I thought with the overall concept of the film, the actors were all convincing. The characters were completely different from each other. Aside from the fact that they are the same person, playing polar opposites was an interesting perspective to watch.

The only negative thing about the movie was the fact that the husband played by Winston Duke was pretty much useless because he was injured early in the film.

Not only that, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of his dad jokes. They were definitely cringeworthy.

All is saved, however, with Lupita Nyong’o. She definitely deserves an Oscar award for her performance.

As Nyong’o played her tethered role, it was amazing and shocking because I didn’t think they would be able to talk when they first came out.

The first time Nyong’o’s character spoke was creepy, but added more excitement to the film. I found it to be a great element to include, since it was something that does not necessarily fit.

In an interview, Nyong’o talked about what inspired her voice for the film.

“I was inspired by the condition Spasmodic Dysphonia, which is a condition that comes about from a trauma, and it creates this spasming in your vocal chords that leads to an irregular flow of air,” Nyong’o said.

She also said she worked with an ear, nose and throat doctor to help perfect the voice for the role.

Peele created a classic with “Get Out” and now has one with “Us.” He did an amazing job with this film and if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you watch it.