The bright Ferris wheel lights shining across the water. The sounds of laughter against the crashing waves. A small girl wandering into the darkness of a house of mirrors, her candy apple falling into the sand. Us tells the story of past trauma, the power of memory, and the difficulty of fighting your worst enemy: yourself.
Us begins with Adelaide Wilson and her family visiting their vacation home in Santa Cruz, California. Her husband, Gabe, is thrilled to spend the summer on his newly acquired boat. Her son, Jason, is content playing with his lighter and spending the summer hidden behind his Chewbacca mask. Zora, her eldest, seems to be lost in her own world, her eyes locked onto her phone screen. But Adelaide can’t shake the constant anxiety that resurfaces with each candied apple and patch of sand. She can’t forget the night that her entire life changed—the horrors that hid within the house of mirrors. But her greatest fears come true when Jason notices four strangers with locked hands standing outside their home, hidden by the night. And when her husband confronts them, they make the horrifying discovery that these strangers are not as foreign as they might seem. Before them stand identical versions of themselves. Now surrounded by horrifying doppelgängers, this new family is set on killing Adelaide’s family one at a time, each copy going after the original. With bloody deaths with scissors and an army of experimental rabbits, Us presents a truly horrifying and intelligent film about our own self-destructive nature and the darkness within—a haunting story about family and the secrets each of us holds.
By the time the credits began to roll, my eyes were glued to the screen, and my heart was nearly beating out of my chest. I thought it would be nearly impossible for Jordan Peele to surpass the success and intelligence of Get Out, yet somehow Us improves on his previous film and introduces audiences into a surprisingly humorous and dark world of deception and intrigue, one that is filled with deadly clones with shady vendettas. Full of surprise and gruesome deaths, I loved every second of this film and was left with so many questions left unanswered. From the music to the magnificently rendered filming, Us is a horror masterpiece that is certain to be a classic. For anyone looking for a sophisticated, shocking, and unnerving tale of survival and a family vacation gone wrong, Us will not disappoint.
Adelaide felt as if her past was close behind, and she was right. What starts as an escape to the beaches of Santa Cruz soon turns into a horrific life-and-death romp down the streets of California—clones with scissors and red suits lurking behind every corner. With style and intrigue, Us is an enjoyable, addictive, and haunting tale—Peele’s best work yet.