Every family has its secrets, but what if your shadow self held the key to them all?

Jordan Peele’s Us (2019) lingers in the mind long after the credits roll, a chilling tapestry of doppelgangers, social allegory, and psychological terror that redefines horror for the modern age. This film masterfully weaves personal dread with broader societal critiques, culminating in an ending that demands repeated viewings to unpack its layers. Here, we dissect the doppelganger motif, the razor-sharp social horror, and that unforgettable finale, revealing why Us stands as a pinnacle of contemporary genre filmmaking.

  • The Tethered serve as a profound metaphor for America’s underclass, mirroring the privileges and inequalities that define the nation.
  • Lupita Nyong’o’s dual performance as Adelaide and Red anchors the film’s emotional core, blurring lines between victim and villain.
  • The ending twist reframes the entire narrative, transforming a survival thriller into a meditation on identity, inheritance, and revolution.

Beachside Bliss Shattered by the Double

The Wilson family arrives at their Santa Cruz beach house, eager for a summer escape that echoes the carefree vibes of 1980s family outings, only for their night to erupt into chaos. Doppelgangers clad in red jumpsuits, scissors in hand, invade their home, kicking off a night of relentless pursuit. Peele sets the stage with deliberate nostalgia: the boardwalk’s thrumming energy, fireworks painting the sky, and a haunting Hands Across America commercial that plants the seeds of unease. This opening lures viewers into familiarity before yanking them into the abyss.

Adealaide Wilson, played with quiet intensity by Lupita Nyong’o, carries a childhood trauma from that very boardwalk, a shadow that foreshadows the literal shadows to come. Her husband Gabe, a successful everyman portrayed by Winston Duke, brushes off her apprehensions, embodying the oblivious comfort of middle-class life. Their children, Zora and Jason, add layers of youthful vulnerability, their reactions amplifying the stakes. As the tethered versions emerge, the film flips the script on home invasion tropes, making the intruders not faceless killers but distorted reflections of the protagonists themselves.

The tethered, or the doubles, move with jerky, unnatural grace, their faces twisted into silent screams. Peele draws from underground horror archetypes, evoking the subterranean horrors of films like The Mole People, but infuses them with contemporary bite. Each pair mirrors mannerisms perfectly yet subverts them: the tethered Gabe lunges with primal fury, contrasting his surface-level counterpart’s buttoned-up restraint. This symmetry builds dread organically, forcing audiences to confront the uncomfortable truth that evil might lurk within familiarity.

Doppelgangers as Mirrors to Inequality

At its heart, Us weaponises the doppelganger trope to dissect class divides. The tethered live in forgotten tunnels beneath the surface world, surviving on discarded scraps while their above-ground counterparts feast. Peele has described this setup as a commentary on systemic neglect, where the underprivileged are tethered to the elite by invisible chains. The red jumpsuits, evoking prison garb or emergency workers turned antagonists, symbolise both victimhood and uprising.

Consider the tethered’s mimicry: they imitate speech with guttural efforts, aping the freedoms denied to them. This inversion of power dynamics recalls classic doppelganger tales like The Double by Dostoevsky or Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, but Peele grounds it in American specificity. Hands Across America, that 1986 charity event promising unity, becomes ironic fodder; the tethered hold hands across the nation in a perverse mimicry, linking their revolution to failed promises of equality.

The film’s visual language reinforces this: golden scissors glint under moonlight, tools of creation twisted into weapons of retribution. Each kill choreographed with balletic precision underscores the tethered’s pent-up rage, a release after lifetimes of subjugation. Nyong’o’s Red, leader of the doubles, rasps her backstory in a monologue that peels back layers of resentment, her voice a croak from disuse, symbolising silenced voices in society.

Social horror here transcends jump scares, embedding critique in every frame. The Wilsons’ affluence—nice car, lakeside home—contrasts the tethered’s barren existence, prompting viewers to question their own privileges. Peele avoids preachiness, letting horror do the heavy lifting, much like how 1970s films like The Stepford Wives used doubles to skewer suburbia.

Red’s Reckoning: The Heart of the Horror

Lupita Nyong’o delivers a tour de force, inhabiting Adelaide with poised restraint and Red with feral desperation. Red’s emergence in the beach house confrontation marks a pivot, her elongated form slinking from shadows like a predator unchained. Nyong’o’s physicality sells the duality: Adelaide’s fluid grace versus Red’s spasmodic twitches, achieved through meticulous motion capture and prosthetics.

The underground lair reveals the tethered’s tragic mimicry of surface life: funhouse copies of Disney rides, rabbits bred for meat, a vast network of souls linked yet isolated. This descent mirrors Dante’s Inferno, but with American consumerism as the sin. Peele’s production design, lauded by critics, uses dim fluorescents and concrete vastness to evoke urban decay, tying into real-world issues like homelessness and forgotten infrastructure.

Flashbacks to 1986 flesh out Adelaide’s abduction, her real self taken below while a tethered swaps places. This revelation, hinted through behavioural tics—Adelaide’s aversion to water, her polished speech—builds retroactive tension. The film nods to 80s child-swap horrors like Firestarter, blending nostalgia with fresh terror.

The Climax Symphony of Scissors

As families reunite underground, the tethered enact their plan: surface dwellers lured below for a deadly exchange. The Wilsons fight through doppelganger hordes, Jason’s flare gun providing bursts of crimson light that illuminate the horror. Peele’s sound design peaks here, scissors snipping in rhythmic horror, a symphony of severance echoing the film’s title.

The final confrontation atop Santa Cruz pier pits mother against ‘daughter’. Adelaide—revealed as the original tethered—throttles Red with brutal efficiency, her face contorting into a rictus grin that chills to the core. Nyong’o’s performance elevates this from gore to tragedy, Adelaide reclaiming her stolen life through matricide.

Dawn breaks with the tethered shambling hand-in-hand across highways, a silent army unbound. Jason’s recognition of Adelaide’s true nature sets up endless unease: is she protector or infiltrator? This open-ended terror lingers, questioning assimilation and identity.

Unpacking the Ending: Possession, Power, and Possession

The twist recontextualises everything: Adelaide was always Red, the tethered girl elevated to surface life, suppressing her origins through silence and control. Her children’s unwitting complicity in the uprising—Zora killing her double, Jason aiding the plan—extends the metaphor to generational trauma. The tethered’s failure stems not from weakness but from incomplete preparation, their bodies atrophied from inaction.

Peele layers meanings: doppelgangers as the id unleashed, or immigrants/poor rising against the elite. The ending’s ambiguity fuels discourse—did Adelaide orchestrate the event for power? Her grin suggests relish in violence, a tethered trait surfacing. Compared to Get Out‘s body-snatching, Us internalises the invasion, making horror inescapable.

Cultural ripples extend to merchandise and memes, the golden scissors becoming iconic. The film’s box office triumph, grossing over $255 million on a $20 million budget, underscores its resonance, spawning think pieces on race, class, and the American Dream inverted.

Legacy-wise, Us influences a wave of elevated horror, from Midsommar to series like Lovecraft Country, proving social commentary thrives in genre skins. For collectors, original posters and scissors replicas fetch premiums, tying into nostalgia for tangible horror artifacts.

Director in the Spotlight: Jordan Peele

Jordan Peele, born 8 February 1979 in New York City to a white mother and black father, grew up immersed in comedy and horror. Raised in Los Angeles, he honed his craft at Sarah Lawrence College, dropping out to pursue stand-up. Peele rose to fame co-creating and starring in Key & Peele (2012-2015) on Comedy Central, skewering race and culture with razor wit alongside Keegan-Michael Key.

Transitioning to film, Peele wrote and directed Get Out (2017), a Sundance sensation blending social satire with horror. The film won Best Original Screenplay Oscar, grossing $255 million worldwide, establishing Peele as a genre innovator. He produced BlacKkKlansman (2018) for Spike Lee, earning another Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Us (2019) followed, pushing Peele’s thematic envelope with doppelganger dread, earning critical acclaim and a Saturn Award for Best Director. Nope (2022), his sci-fi western spectacle, explored spectacle and exploitation, featuring Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya. Peele co-founded Monkeypaw Productions, backing horrors like Candyman (2021) reboot and Hunter’s Eve.

His influences span The Twilight Zone, George Romero, and William Friedkin, evident in his twisty narratives. Peele directs with precision, favouring practical effects and long takes. Upcoming projects include a Tales from the Crypt series for HBO and untitled Monkeypaw horrors. Married to Chelsea Peretti, Peele resides in Los Angeles, blending family life with boundary-pushing cinema. Filmography highlights: Get Out (2017, dir./writer), Us (2019, dir./writer/prod.), Nope (2022, dir./writer/prod.), BlacKkKlansman (2018, prod.), Keego (TBA, writer).

Actor in the Spotlight: Lupita Nyong’o

Lupita Amondi Nyong’o, born 1 March 1983 in Mexico City to Kenyan parents, spent childhood between Kenya and the US. Educated at Hampshire College and Yale School of Drama, she debuted in Kenyan film Westgate (2012). Breakthrough came as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave (2013), winning Best Supporting Actress Oscar at age 30.

Nyong’o shone in blockbusters: Maz Kanata in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015, voice), voicing Cheetah in The Lion King (2019, live-action). Us (2019) showcased her range, earning NAACP Image Award for dual roles. Black Panther (2018) as Nakia bolstered her Marvel stardom.

Stage work includes Tony-nominated Eclipsed (2016). Recent films: Little Monsters (2019, zombie comedy), The 355 (2022, spy thriller), A Quiet Place: Day One (2024, horror lead). Voice roles abound in Star Wars sequels and Black Is King (2020). Nyong’o authored Sulwe (2019), a children’s book on colourism.

Activism marks her career: UN goodwill ambassador, advocating for refugees. Filmography: 12 Years a Slave (2013, Patsey), Black Panther (2018, Nakia), Us (2019, Adelaide/Red), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017, Maz Kanata), Queen of Katwe (2016, Harriet), A Quiet Place: Day One (2024, Samira).

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Bibliography

Buchanan, K. (2019) Jordan Peele on the Deeper Meaning Behind Us. Vulture. Available at: https://www.vulture.com/2019/03/jordan-peele-us-interview.html (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Collum, J. (2020) Horror Dossier: Doppelgangers in Cinema. Senses of Cinema. Available at: https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2020/feature-articles/doppelgangers-cinema/ (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

French, P. (2019) Us review – Jordan Peele’s horror masterpiece. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/mar/10/us-review-jordan-peele (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Peele, J. (2019) Us Production Notes. Monkeypaw Productions.

Rosenberg, A. (2019) Hands Across America and the Real Horror of Us. Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/03/29/hands-across-america-real-horror-us/ (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Sharf, Z. (2022) Lupita Nyong’o on the Challenges of Playing Dual Roles in Us. IndieWire. Available at: https://www.indiewire.com/2022/07/lupita-nyongo-us-dual-roles-interview-1234728492/ (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Travers, P. (2019) Us Movie Review: Jordan Peele’s Sophomore Stunner. Rolling Stone. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/us-movie-review-jordan-peele-807849/ (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Wood, J. (2021) The Social Horror of Jordan Peele. New Yorker. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/19/jordan-peele-profile (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

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