After the rapturous response that 2017’s Get Out earned from audiences, critics and award-giving bodies alike, director Jordan Peele’s sophomore feature Us was never going to have any trouble earning the attention of film festivals, and sure enough, South by Southwest in Austin, Texas picked up the world premiere of the movie, which occurred last night and seemingly went down very well with the crowd.
Of course, Get Out set an unbelievably high bar for Peele’s latest effort, which now has to follow up an Oscar-winning picture that earned the respect of several organizations that normally wouldn’t give something from the horror genre a second glance. But if these first reactions to Us are any indication of what’s to come, then it looks like the director might just be finding himself with a few Academy Awards come next year.
Calling it a masterpiece, very satisfying and one of the biggest movies of 2019, the tweets below are but a sampling of what the critics are saying about the movie, and they’ve got nothing but praise to shower on it.
It should surprise no one that US is a very satisfying (and anxiety-inducing) follow up to GET OUT. What’s more fascinating: that a high-concept FUNNY GAMES/Hitchcock/Cronenberg/Bradbury mashup could feel so fresh at the same time. #sxsw
— erickohn (@erickohn) March 9, 2019
Jordan Peele's "Us" is a horror masterpiece. We are witnessing the birth of our modern day Hitchcock. 20 years from now we will ask one another what our favorite Peele film is & you will get 10/12 different answers. Incredible performance from Lupita Nyong'o! #UsMovie #UsFirst pic.twitter.com/vvHunYqSxd
— Clayton Davis (@ByClaytonDavis) March 9, 2019
Lupita Nyong’o. Well DAMN. THAT is an award worthy performance. #UsMovie #UsFirst pic.twitter.com/TGe31FMPUp
— FilmFatale_NYC 🇭🇹 🇩🇴 🇺🇸 (@FilmFatale_NYC) March 9, 2019
It’s official: Jordan Peele is the new Spielberg. #Us is going to be one of the biggest movies of the year. #SXSW
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) March 9, 2019
https://twitter.com/emilyyoshida/status/1104217870907723777
Jordan Peele’s #Us is absolutely nuts! Deliriously horrific, incredibly inventive, it has elements of the home invasion & zombie movies, but it is unlike anything I have ever seen. Wildly captivating from start to finish. #SXSW pic.twitter.com/vATBSUhD7e
— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) March 9, 2019
https://twitter.com/SeanFennessey/status/1104232689522094080
Speaking to Rolling Stone the other month, Peele explained that he wanted Us to be more a work of pure horror than Get Out was, saying that the “genre confusion” of that film broke his heart a little. Clearly, he achieved his goal – at least judging by the above reactions – and though most people obviously weren’t too bothered by the fact that Get Out wasn’t as heavy on the horror as perhaps we expected, it’s good to see that the director’s leaning fully into the genre with Us.
The real question now, though, is if it can earn similar levels of praise as it did at SXSW when it hits theaters on March 22nd, but for the moment, at least, we’d say that Peele’s next effort will certainly have people talking – for all the right reasons – when it opens later this month.
