Michael lee taylor

Originally written April 28th 2021.

Get out.

The horror genre is filled with tropes and cliches that weave an intricate culture
soaked in a single goal. To scare. To unease. To frighten. From nosferatus disfigurations
leaving the monster in humans. To Frankenstein's monster, scared and created to mock
God's plan. But over the years, as all crafts are, it has been honed. We become better
at certain things. We become better at crafting a story that is unique in its experience.
We can shed the idea that what scares us has to be outlandish, that it has to be some
horrid creeper from the blackened lagoons or from beyond the stars, horror is intrinsic to
the human experience thus it is human. This movie explores the monstrosity that is
humans.
The movie starts with how the son of the armitage family operates. Which is a
rather short movie if it was about his relationship with chris. Jimmy is by all means a
racist sadist. He enjoys hunting black men because it makes him feel stronger. Infact
every member of the family can be representative of the multifaceted nature of racism.
For Jimmy, his hatred stiens from a perceived notion that black men are only better
because of some genetic difference which is some of the oldest justification known. The
idea of them being “different” or not the same dehumanizes and eases the conscious.
He has an unnatural desire to prove himself the physical superior. The scene has
some noir elements with the low lighting. The music from the car invokes minstrel
imagery given its from a world war two era song. It sets up this unease scene that's
quickly spiked from the simple image of a car door being open, because that is a
relatable fear. The idea of walking alone at night is enough to make anyone paranoid
but it's the justification of that which brings about situational horror which I will delve
deeper into later in the paper.
We then meet our protagonist, Chris washington. A semi successful
photographer with an interest in urban pieces, detailing the melancholic nature of the
black community in those stuck in low income areas. We are also introduced to his
girlfriend, rose. We see that they're an almost picturesque couple, loving and
supportive. It then sets up a rather simple premise, they're going to go to Rose's parents
house to meet the parents. Again a very average situation, it happens in comedies all
the time, happens in horror sometimes as well, going off to meet grandma or the like.
The only one to question this is Chris's friend rod. A tsa agent. Rod serves a very
special purpose in this movie, he is our connection to “normalcy”. His presence as the
comedic relief shows that he is always in a safe area. That he is an entirely different
genre to the movie and will bring that aspect with him wherever he goes. Keep that in
mind. Rod is comedy, Chris is tragedy and Rose is horror.
 As they go up to the house they accidentally hit a deer which leads to two major
foreshadowing. One Chris watching the deer die, not doing anything. Then roses
confrontation with the police. Which leads to her version of racism, preformative
allyship. The idea that “I am one of the good ones”, those willing to make it less about
the struggles in and of themselves and make it about themselves and their heroics. All
of which is again, preformative. It's her lure.
She is one of the “hunters” for the family, acting in stark contrast to her brother. If
he is vinegar then she is honey. That aside we then arrive at the house, where things
start to slide deeper and deeper into carefully orchestrated madness.
The most extreme to me being the first night. Where he meets the mother. Whom
i believe represents intellectual racism, but her character is important given she
represents a very specific person. The parental abuser, the one who holds power in
someone's life and uses that to forcibly rip something from someone, then revels in that
power. She wrestles autonomy from chris. She wrestles his privacy from him, to the
point where he can't even stop her from closing his eyes. The horror comes from
someone you know gaining an exaggerated version of their power. We are scared of
her and the people we associate with her.
To finish off the family, at first viewing I assumed that the father was the same as
the daughter, performative racism, but he represents systematic racism. He controls the
systems, he tells them where to go, he provides this service to his guests and family at
a major price. He doesn't have to only use black men and women but he just naturally
does so. The philosophical elements are nothing, its fluff and filler to help him justify it.
Now we get to the twist, the family business. The act of removing specific parts of
the brain and transplanting them so that the buyer is given full control (or so it would
seem) of the victim. The buyers do this for various reasons that we can see during the
“auction”. Some want the body, a very superficial glamor of a strong black body. Some
want the perceived ability, you'll notice that very stereotypical black athletes are brought
up alot, such as tiger woods or jesse owens. Then we have those who want to see if
being black is just better then being what they already are. The gallery curator falls into
the latter. He understands that Chris is an artist and succeeded in areas where he did
not, that is being an artist that captures a moment. He believes that to be a justifiable
reason, he also goes out and buys well over any other buyer, but again, that is his
justification. He is feeding into this system. If his reason was so “pure”, then he would
have just paid the family to get someone with good eyesight.
Which i think also plays into why it's scary, it didn't have to be you. They could
have done this to anyone but they wanted you. They will do anything to get to you. They
will lie to you, they will comfort you, and they will make you feel worthless until you are
incapable of escape.
 As chris finally falls into the trap, we see more images of the deer in the waiting
room. A stuffed head of a dear watching chris about to under go a similar fate. That
being to die and get stuffed and used decoratively.
Though through regaining some of his autonomy through picking cotton out of
the arm chair, a detail the director is always happy to point out, they manage to escape
and start burning the house down. A short chase from rose begins. Showing her as a
nearly emotionless monster, efficient, deadly and cruel.
As rose catches up, they get into a fight over the shot gun, chris wins the scuffle
and begins to choke out rose but gives up because despite everything, theres still some
love in there for her. . With the police lights flashing in the distance, we start to tie off
two other things foreshadowed. Mirrored from the initial travels to the house.
Rose attempts to call out to the police, ready immediately to weaponize her
appearance to set herself back up at the advantage. Though the one that comes out of
the car is rod. Rods appearance signals that we are now safe. That chris, is now safe.
We are back to a comedy movie. They leave, letting rose die on the street from a bullet
wound inflicted on her by one of the semi freed victims.
Overall this movie is an astounding cinematic deput from a director whom is
mostly known for their comedic timing and writing. Yet they show impeccable range.
They show a clear understanding of the genre and how to subvert it in ways that dosent
truly mock it, but make it fresh and new.