Deprivation, want and envy are the driving themes in "Us," Jordan Peele's follow-up to his hit horror film from 2017, "Get Out." That film struck a nerve with its comic-surreal approach to racism and paranoia, but "Us" digs deeper under the skin. The story, about an affluent family of four attacked by their impoverished doppelgangers, suggests a larger statement about what it means to be happy and successful in a deeply unequal society.
"Who are you?" the family's patriarch, Gabe Wilson (Winston Duke), asks of the intruders. It's his wife's double who answers with a smile: "We're Americans."
A little too on-the-nose, you say? Maybe, but how many other filmmakers are even bothering to go there? Building on the success of "Get Out," Peele has a bigger budget, bigger stars and much bigger ambitions _ and it shows. On the one hand, "Us" is a more traditional horror film than "Get Out," with more jolts per minute and copious bloodshed. Yet it also goes further into the realms of surrealism, symbolism and dream imagery. One thing is for sure: There's nothing else that looks and feels quite like it.
