US / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JORDAN PEELE / STARRING: LUPITA NYONG’O, WINSTON DUKE, ELISABETH MOSS  / RELEASE DATE: 29TH JULY

2017’s Get Out was an unexpected hit, giving writer and director Jordan Peele a much-deserved Oscar and the attention of Hollywood on his own terms, recently becoming the frontman of the new adaptation of The Twilight Zone. Inbetween, we saw the release of Us, another horror which puts American society under the microscope, which is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray later this month.

Us begins with Adelaide, a child who goes through a traumatic experience at the local fair ground. We then fast forward to Adelaide as an adult (Lupita Nyong’o) who returns to the holiday home which was close by to the events of her childhood. However, despite husband Gabe’s (Winston Duke) reassurances, Adelaide feels something is not right; this is then realised when she and her family are taken hostage by four doppelgangers of her own family, known as the Tethered. However, this shock revelation is just the tip of a very twisted iceberg.

What strikes a chord with Us is the strength of its cast; Nyong’o, Duke and the younger performers, Shahadi Wright Joseph & Evan Alex, switch seamlessly between the victims and their Tethered doppelgangers. Meanwhile, with regards to the narrative, Us shows themes that resonate across modern America today: religion, paranoia (which it shares with Get Out) as well as the obsession with conspiracy theories that seems to grow across the US via the internet. With that said, Us has some issues with pace in that some of the chase scenes do go on a tad too long. Nevertheless, Us delivers a strong cast with a storyline that utilises the everyday horrors of modern America. The DVD is also packed with lots of “Making Of” features which gives us more insight into the conception of the film.