I can't wait to see what a Jordan Peele horror film looks like.
While I am saddened by the end of “Key & Peele,” I also think it's important that both Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key are able to follow their particular muses. Watching their work carefully, I think Key is the more powerful comic presence, relentlessly funny, but Peele is the guy whose character work gets under my skin. He loves the grotesque, and he's played many of them over the various seasons of the show. It does not remotely surprise me to hear that horror is something he considers an essential part of his creative voice.
There was news about this back in January, and at that point, Darko Entertainment was working with Peele to develop the film. There weren't many other details. He just said that he was going to be working on a horror film called “Get Out” that had to do with his experiences as a young black man.
Now it looks like Blumhouse has come onboard to co-produce the film with QC Entertainment, a new company that partners Darko Entertainment with Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield, and Peele will both write and direct the film. In a statement on the partnership, Peele said, “People know me for my work in comedy, but now I”ll get to focus on my passion for writing and directing horror films. Like comedy, horror has an ability to provoke thought and further the conversation on real social issues in a very powerful way. 'Get Out' takes on the task of exploring race in America, something that hasn”t really been done within the genre since 'Night Of The Living Dead' 47 years ago. It”s long overdue.”
Bring it on. I've long said that horror is the most political genre. You can make some pretty wild comments on any aspect of society if you find the right way in, and I think some of the greatest horror films are movies that offer up a visceral experience that is still anchored in some smart and daring thinking. The new logline is simply, “A young African-American man visits his Caucasian girlfriend's family estate.” And let's be honest… if we're talking about what horror truly means in the year 2015, being a young African-American man has got to rank pretty high on the list. It's going to be fascinating to see what Peele has planned, and I can't think of the last time I've been this excited about a debut directorial feature.
Here's hoping we see “Get Out” in 2016.