Genre Research: Us

      To begin analyzing the elements of this genre in individual movies, I started off with my favorite thriller, Us directed by Jordan Peele. This movie came out in the spring of 2019 and I had the best experience viewing it for the first time in an IMAX theater. This movie uses the scares and horror component of thrillers to its absolute advantage. There are several brutal kills with plenty of gore in this film. That is something not as prominent in thriller films but Us do follow the outline of thrillers in other ways.

     Like most thrillers and eventually mine, there are aspects of Us that tell you exactly what is happening. A prime example of this is the external conflict between the characters.  The doppelgangers of humanity are killing their counterparts, whom they are tethered to. Opposingly, there are just as many, if not even more, that are very ambiguous and require the viewer to draw their own conclusion as to what something might truly mean. A great example of this is the theme of the film. This movie was notorious for all of the theories of the theme months after its theatrical release. 

     As stated in the beginning, this movie used its horror component to its advantage. In the same year that movie such as It chapter 2, Doctor Sleep, and Annabelle Comes Homes came out, Us easily had the best scares. You can look at this from the traditional scare sense, with jump scares, or the more creepy route. In the 3rd act of this film, the protagonist and the antagonist were in a subterranean replica of California. You entered this setting through a hall of mirrors at a carnival, which offered intelligent scares using the actors' reflection.

An element of the thriller genre present in this movie that I didn't find appealing is its hidden message. Us took a route that most thrillers do by shaping the movie so that was able to be viewed with different lenses. On one hand, you can take the message as a sign warning you that one day you could become your own enemy. On the other hand, you can look at Us with a social commentary lens on how society would rather conceal the less fortunate instead of helping them.



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