Us Review
By Myla Tosatto
As Us starts, we meet young Adelaide Thomas (Madison Curry) and her family in 1986 at an amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. We know something bad is going to happen and it is more than the mechanical owl that jumps out at her in the Shaman’s Vision Quest ride (though plenty of us screamed at that). And we’re right. THEN the scary music starts and the credits roll. You’ve been warned. Don’t think this is a thrill ride like you would find in Disneyland. The thrills here are fast, bloody and horrific.
Jump to present day where we find adult Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o)and her quick with a dad joke husband, Gabe Wilson (Winston Duke) heading to their vacation house with their kids Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex) in tow. They make plans to go to the beach with the Tyler family: Josh (Tim Heidecker), Kitty (Elisabeth Moss), Becca (Cali Sheldon) and Lindsey (Noelle Sheldon). Jason quickly goes missing, coincidences happen all over the place and then they meet “Us.” I’m not going to go in to much detail here. I don’t want to ruin any of the red jumpsuited plot for you.
I must admit, horror movies aren’t my normal viewing choice. I’m not sure what goes on in the modern scary movie. I still don’t, really. I had my head down for a good part of this film. It’s scary. It’s not for kids. Or for 51 year-olds by the name of Movie Myla, apparently. The last horror movie I saw at the theater was The Sixth Sense (which is one of the 10 movies director/writer gave his cast to view as homework before making this film) and more recently, Peele’s Get Out. Which is what made me not be able to pass up this particular movie. How exciting is it to see Jordan Peele’s next project? It IS exciting. Your heart will be racing, I can promise you that.
Pro tip: The buzz around this movie is BIG. This movie is going to open HUGE. Buy your tickets NOW. Just remember to not buy tickets for the kids.