OK, is this a safe space to admit that I’m not the biggest film girly? Don’t get me wrong, I love all the Disney movies, the classic chick-flicks (Clueless is literally peak) and pretty much any documentary you put in front of me. I’m just not the type to enjoy sitting down and watching two-hour nothing-sandwiches where the trailer or a piece of not-so-subtle foreshadowing five minutes in tells me the entire plot and then some. I’ve accepted that movies aren’t really my thing. That is, unless it’s a Jordan Peele film.
The Beginning
Now, who is Jordan Peele? The answer is, well, a little bit of everything. He got his mainstream start as a comedian, one half of the Emmy-winning Key & Peele duo that wreaked havoc on Comedy Central and Saturday Night Live in the early 2010s. If you’ve never seen the show or the sketches on SNL (or TikTok), imagine a much less vulgar, live-action version of South Park that leaned more into racial identity than society at large. After Key & Peele ended in 2015, Jordan took a break from the limelight, appearing in a few TV shows here and there and revitalizing his and Keegan-Michael Key’s iconic friendship in the comedy film Keanu. The latter was Peele’s production debut and also his last large-scale acting project. From 2017 on, Jordan has mostly stayed behind the camera, and that’s where he likes it. In an interview with CBS, he says, “Acting is just nowhere near as fun for me as directing.” You can tell that Peele takes pride in the craft of bringing a film to life. The intricacies of each of his movies don’t come to be if someone isn’t completely and utterly passionate about what they’re putting out. OK, let’s get to the good part: the movies.
The Movies
Peele has been a part of quite a few film projects, some as just a producer, some as a co-writer etc., etc. Most recently, he produced the 2025 film HIM, a psychological horror movie commenting on the ills of American football. For the purposes of this article, I’m going to focus on his big three. The three films that he wrote, directed and produced: Get Out, Us and NOPE
Get Out (2017)
Main Vibe: intense, timely, reflective
Where to Watch: Hulu, HBOMax, Amazon PrimeTV
Ugh, Get Out, where do I begin? It’s, dare I say, one of the best films of all time? I mean, there’s a reason why it’s in my top two movies… and it’s not #2. I promised no spoilers so essentially it’s about a Black man visiting his white girlfriend’s parents for a weekend, where it’s clear that things aren’t as they seem, or rather are as they seem. To me, it toes the line between psychological thriller and horror; it’s not gory but definitely makes you feel uneasy. It does a wonderful job of giving you that intuitive pit in your stomach that something is or is going to go horribly wrong, but you don’t know what or how or when or why. The film, to me, is a poignant commentary on the type of racism highlighted in the post-Obama era. The type of racism that will never call you the n-word but will listen to you discuss systemic racism, sigh, say, “Can’t we all just get along?” It also very plainly illustrates the commodification of black people as bodies rather than human beings as well as the danger of complacency with ignorance. So many layers to this film can literally only be described as a cinematic masterpiece.
Us (2019)
Main Vibe: jarring, piercing, thought-provoking
Where to Watch: Hulu, Amazon PrimeTV
OK, remember how I said Get Out was like in between a horror and a thriller? Yeah, there’s no “in between” when it comes to Us. This is a straight-up horror movie. But again, not super gory; it’s mostly just eerie, shaky and disturbing. Spoiler-free summary: Us is about the Wilson family, a vacation gone horribly wrong and a past trip to the beach that follows one of the characters forever. Now, it’s important to note that I do not like horror movies. I will watch them, but I will cover my eyes and won’t have a good time. Us is one of the few exceptions. Us is the type of scary that follows you after the movie, the type that you think about for days post-watch. It’s genuinely spooky. Unlike Get Out, where the underlying meaning was super obvious to me after the first watch, every time that I watch Us, I come up with a new thematic undertone. There are so many aspects of our society that its core ideas could be applied to: the concept of socioeconomic privilege, the concept of duality within ourselves (the Freudian id and ego, if you will) or even the religious concept of being “born again” in Christ. The cinematography of this movie is wild, like you can tell that everything – the lighting, the makeup, the housing complexes – was done with intention behind it. And the score? Oh, just the “Tethered Mix” of I Got 5 On It is literal chills-down-your-spine, horror movie perfection.
NOPE (2022)
Main Vibe: subversive, blended, cerebral
Where to Watch:
To me, NOPE is noticeably different from its older siblings. It confused me at first because it didn’t feel like a “scary movie” or even a thriller, just a comedic drama with many scary and thrilling parts. I guess my confusion, more so, came from the fact that it was a Jordan Peele film and I didn’t feel that characteristic uneasiness. Again, spoiler-free, but NOPE is essentially about a pair of siblings, their family ranch and a strange phenomenon attacking the ranch and the town surrounding it. Like I just said, NOPE is kind of the black sheep of the Peele cinematic family tree. It’s not a psychological, quizzical thriller/horror like Get Out or Us, it’s a brilliant spin on the classic alien invasion horror movie. However, in classic Jordan Peele fashion, there are so many thematic meanings to be gathered from this film. On its face, I think it’s a cautionary tale about a lust for spectacle, the danger of our gravitation towards things that make us raise our eyebrows for a second, ignoring the horror that may lie in its wake. Additionally, I don’t underestimate Peele for a second, and I know that literally everything in his movies is, say it with me, intentional. With that in mind, I also think that NOPE calls into consideration the exploitative nature of film in general and its vapid absorption of uncredited Black art, hence Peele’s pivot to a classic trope of alien invasion film. It’s genius, literally genius, even if Rotten Tomatoes agrees to disagree.
OK… and?
Jordan Peele is my favorite director, yes. Would I love for him to be yours? Also, yes. However, that doesn’t have to be the case for you to enjoy his movies. I think that because of the thematic depth of Peele’s movie, you don’t have to be head-over-heels about his films to see his value. Us doesn’t have to be in your top five, or even top 10 horror movies, for you to sit on the couch (with the lights on, of course) and yap with your friends about what each little detail meant. I think in recent years, we’ve lost the plot when it comes to the enjoyment of art. The beauty of art is derived from how it makes you feel and what it makes you think about. Too much has been demystified and not enough reflection (or thinking) is taking place. It’s spooky! Even if it’s not a Jordan Peele film, I encourage you to watch, listen or look at something today that truly forces you to think.