Us

It's October, so let's get into some horror movies. Let's begin with something that came out earlier in the year, Us. Us is the second horror film from comedic star, Jordan Peele. Critics gushed over his first film, Get Out. I liked it, didn't love it. Peele seems to have embraced the horror genre with loving arms, so much so that he has rebooted The Twilight Zone. So I went into Us with somewhat midgrade expectations; horror is hard to do well. I was delighted to find a very creepy monster knocking on my cinema's door.

What's it all about? It's about the childhood fears of getting lost and it's about adult fears and guilt of losing a child. It's also about the innate existential fear of being replaced - somebody could take my job; my partner could leave me and get a better me; my kids could have a better stepfather than their real dad; our very existence will one day be gone and we will be replaced.

It's about the Wilson family, Gabe and Adelaide (played with great intensity by Lupita Nyong'o) and their two kids. One night a strange family comes knocking on the Wilsons's door. It's their doppelgangers dressed in red outfits and wearing ornate racing gloves - it's scary shit.

Peele is a comedian and he has sprinkled humour throughout his new monster movie of the self. Elisabeth Moss calling for the police is particularly amusing. This is all I want to tell you - go watch it with the lights out.

You couldn't do much better than Us, to begin your Halloween horror movie season. Catch it on streaming services.