Watched for this: Get Out (2017), Us (2019)
It is not often that you can say you have seen a director's entire oeuvre, but with Jordan Peele, I can.
(I am one movie away from having seen all of John Singleton's features, and I have seen all features directed by Denzel Washington, but there are television episode that don't always seem worth the effort, except for one that totally was.)
It may make the most sense to compare Peele to Denzel Washington - director of three features - where the directing is competent without being showy. I felt more of an emphasis with Washington on bringing out the best in the actors and going for the heart, but that may be more due to the material.
It wouldn't even make sense to go for heart-warming in horror.
I cannot do a good job of comparing Peele to other horror directors, because I do not watch a lot of horror.
I am pretty sure that Peele has.
I did watch three seasons of Key & Peele for this. That was a comedy show but they brought in horror elements a lot; not just for Halloween. Some of that was mining tropes (my favorite was probably the sketch with the vampires who didn't really enjoy all the leather and partying), but some of it was also introducing weird pieces of eeriness and existential horror into odd places.
I will probably go more into my own feelings about horror tomorrow, but I watched Get Out and Us (with trepidation) because I thought they were important. I thought they were dealing with important things.
Eddie Murphy had a pretty well known bit back in the day (and Peele was inspired by it) about how you can't make a horror film with a Black family in it because when they move into a haunted house and find out it is haunted, they will leave.
(Demonic voice) "Get out."
"Too bad we can't stay."
There is something in there about Black people having more sense, but the corollary is that horror movies involve people making a lot of poor choices (a Geico commercial has teens running past an escape care to hide behind chainsaws) to keep the plot moving.
Because of this I felt that there would be pressure on Peele to make it so that you could feel that your characters were smart, and their choices were reasonable, but they were still getting into trouble.
Some spoilers will follow, though they will probably be more confusing than revealing if you have not seen the movies.
The removal of stupid choices was handled well. With Us, the trouble follows the family home. They are in a place where they should be safe and have every reason to be.
Get Out is a little trickier. Chris has reasons to leave the rest of the Armitage family behind, but doesn't. The ways in which they are terrible are so terribly normal, and also there is Rose. Because she acts like she is overestimating her family, and then angry at herself for doing so, he does not doubt her until the last possible moment, when it is too late.
There are two other things with that, though.
His early loss of his mother and the absence of family has left him more vulnerable. A girlfriend is more important and harder to give up. That's what makes him as easier target; it is not just that he is vulnerable, but there are fewer people to come looking for him when he disappears. That makes the Armitage family more gruesome.
But Chris still has a friend.
As ridiculous as some of Rod's ideas seem, and as much as he seems to inflate the power and authority that are his due as a TSA agent, it is Rod's friendship that saves Chris. It is also Chris having a pet that needs care, so that Chris and Rod communicate more and that thread is established.
As creepy as Us is, it mattered to me that Adelaide had to check on Umbrae, and that she tried to stop Pluto from dropping the match. They were children, and they looked like her children. Even though at that point you are finding out some unsettling things about her, even though at this point she has killed and will kill at least once more, she is not callous about it. That smile as they drive away is unsettling - will she stop caring? - but humanity is not extinguished yet.
Not exactly heart-warming, perhaps, but still something that I care about.
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