Jordan Peele’s Us gets some big reactions after it premieres at SXSW

Whatever followed Jordan Peele’s critically-acclaimed and virally popular directorial debut, Get Out, was always going to be highly anticipated (for reasons this sentence should make pretty clear). But the stakes were raised even higher when a genuinely scary trailer for Us, his second film in the director’s chair, was dropped on Christmas Day 2018.

Yesterday (March 8) Us premiered at SXSW and the lucky ones that got to see it have been sharing their thoughts on Twitter, suggesting that it lives up to expectations.

Us, if you didn’t catch the original trailer, or the second trailer aired during the Super Bowl (February 3), is a horror film with touches of comedy, in the vein of Get Out. Two parents – Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke, who both starred in Black Panther – take their kids on a holiday, where they meet up with Elisabeth Moss before being confronted by a group of (very creepy) doppelgängers.

As anyone that saw Get Out will expect, though, the film isn’t just straight horror; there’s a social commentary undercurrent, too. “I have a very clear meaning and commentary I’m trying to strike with this film,” said Peele in a Q&A after the premiere. “On the broader strokes of things, this movie is about this country.”

“When I decided to write this movie I was stricken by the fact that we’re in a time where we fear The Other – whether it’s the mysterious invader we think is going to come and kill us or take our jobs, or the faction we don’t live near that voted a different way than us. We’re all about pointing the finger. I wanted to suggest maybe the monster we really need to look at has our face. Maybe the evil is us.”

While a lot of the focus of audiences at SXSW was, of course, on Peele’s ability to convey this message and simultaneously terrify everyone, commenters also heaped praise on Lupita Nyong’o’s performance.

Us premieres in the UK on March 22. Watch the trailer below.