Get Out
How lucky are we to live in a time where Jordan Peele was able to get this bold, innovative, and all-around genius script made into a movie. There’s been a recent hate train for Blumhouse (understandable), but with them taking risks on creative trailblazers such as Peele and Chazelle, they deserve some credit.
Many other studios would’ve done exactly what the Detectives do to Rod in the film: laugh and tear down Peele's script for being too “out there” and “wild.”
I remember seeing this in theaters with my parents (wild) and getting it on DVD as soon as it was released. I grew up being able to watch one of the most revolutionary films of the 2010s, and I bet this movie stands the test of time and becomes a classic.
It pumped new life into horror (which was a dying genre; I wrote whole essays and many papers on this) and kickstarted the Elevated Horror trend, which led 2022 to be one of the most successful years for horror ever! It made horror something that could be consumed as “real art,” giving it societal relevance and themes that transcend horror. It’s fresh and unique while still being familiar.
The biggest strength is BY FAR the writing. The pacing, the 100+ references (i could spend DAYS naming them all) to race relations and foreshadowing, the characters, the comedy—all of it is woven into an airtight 100-minute (feels like 30) beauty. This is definitely in my top 3 screenplays of all time.
And this has got to be up there as one of the greatest directorial debuts. It’s a really strange coincidence that my other favorite debut (Lady Bird) came out the same year and competed for original screenplay with Get Out.
And where is my Daniel Kaluuya Oscar? (I know, I know, he has one now.) But I take Get Out and Daniel over Oldman in Darkest Hour any day. Robbed.
I think we all should take a second and appreciate that we get to live in a world where Jordan Peele makes movies.
GSP: Ranked