Get Out

Every once in a while a horror film comes along leaving a trail of perfect scores and quotes of being "the best horror in years", or "redefining the genre" in its wake. Scream, The Blair Witch Project, Ring, Saw and many others earned their place in horror history by showing us something totally original, sometimes even spawning sub genres of their own. Get Out arrived on a similar wave, garnering attention at film festivals and preview screenings. So, with only a hint of trepidation, I knew it had to be worth checking out.

Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is a young African-American man who goes away for the weekend with his white girlfriend to stay at her idyllic, rural family home and meet her parents for the first time. Although seemingly friendly and welcoming, Chris start to notice some odd behaviour amongst the townsfolk. That's all you're getting from me.

I'll get it out of the way now. Get Out doesn't do anything new, no new genres are created, there's not really anything I haven't seen before (this is the second film I've seen this year where a car hits a deer) but the fact that it didn't disappoint me is a testament to just how good it is. It balances comedy, social commentary and US race relations perfectly whilst a paranoid tension builds up in it until the beautifully paced story reveals its truths.
The dialogue is brilliantly written and performed perfectly by all of the cast, with some of the finest drunk acting I've ever seen, and a standout turn from Daniel Kaluuya who we'll undoubtedly see a lot more of.