Early reviews say Jordan Peele’s US is another horror masterpiece

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

GET OUT writer-director Jordan Peele's new nightmare US starring Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, and Elizabeth Moss hosed its world premiere as the opening night film at the SXSW Film Festival on March 8th. And the film has been snatching up an endless stream of glowing reviews since. In fact, the film currently holds a 100% rating over on Rotten Tomatoes with the Critics Consensus reading:

With Jordan Peele's second inventive, ambitious horror film, we have seen how to beat the sophomore jinx, and it is Us.

And that's not all. You can check out a handful of the top critics listed on Rotten Tomatoes and their thoughts of the new nightmare by Jordan Peele below. Personally, I have yet to have the chance to catch a screening of the film as I had to sit out this year's SXSW Film Festival. But with these kinds of reviews pouring in, I think it's safe to say – at the VERY least – we have our first great horror movie of 2019 waiting in the wings. Hell, yeah!

Emily Yoshida, New York Magazine/Vulture

Us feels like something meant to be watched over and over until the tape wears down, and we graft our own meaning and nightmares onto it.

Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

[B]eyond the jittery mechanics of attack and pursuit, what lingers is the unnerving intimacy of the whole situation, the terrible and mysterious sense of kinship that binds the Wilsons to their malevolent alter egos.

Monica Castillo, RogerEbert.com

[A] thrilling exploration of the past and oppression this country is still too afraid to bring up. Peele wants us to talk, and he's given audiences the material to think, to feel our way through some of the darker sides of the human condition.

Brandon Katz, Observer

Thanks to a smart script and great performances from the main cast-notably a prowess-unlocked Lupita Nyong'o and a wonderfully loose Winston Duke-Us is both laugh out loud hilarious and disturbingly eerie all at once. 

Yolanda Machado, TheWrap

It's where Peele cements his place as one of the best horror creators of our time, knowing that life's true horror stems from what humans are capable of doing to each other. 

Randall Colburn, AV Club

The direction here is downright balletic, the camera jerking and swooping with a defined purpose. Every frame bursts with detail, whether it's a thematic dovetail or a murky figure sprinting into the periphery.

Eric Kohn, indieWire

It unfolds as a satisfying dose of relentless, anxiety-inducing survival antics designed to keep viewers perpetually uneasy, and moves so quickly that they can only consider the deeper undercurrents after the credits roll .

Peter Debruge, Variety

As in "Get Out," we know to suspect that when things look too good to be true, they probably are, and yet, it would take a pretty twisted mind to anticipate what Peele has in store for us this time.

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

As home invasion standoffs go, Us would be a thrill ride even if its villains weren't horrifying grotesques of the characters they seek to destroy.

Written and directed by Peele, the film stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon, and Madison Curry. Peele produced US through his company Monkeypaw Productions, along with Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, and Ian Cooper. Daniel Lupi served as executive producer.

Here's the movie's official synopsis:

Accompanied by her husband, son, and daughter, Adelaide Wilson returns to the beachfront home where she grew up as a child. Haunted by a traumatic experience from the past, Adelaide grows increasingly concerned that something bad is going to happen to her family. Her worst fears soon become a reality when four masked strangers descend upon the house, forcing the Wilsons into a fight for survival. When the masks come off, each stranger takes the appearance of a different family member.

US is supposed to reach theatres on March 22, 2019.