Get Out is a 2017 American horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele in his directorial debut. It stars Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Lil Rel Howery, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, Catherine Keener, and Lakeith Stanfield. Get Out follows Chris Washington (Kaluuya), a young African-American man who uncovers a disturbing secret when he meets the family of his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Williams).
Principal photography began in February 2016 in Fairhope, Alabama, then moved to Barton Academy and the Ashland Place Historic District in Mobile, Alabama. The entire film was shot in 23 days.
Get Out premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on February 24, 2017, by Universal Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise directed at Peele’s direction and screenplay, Kaluuya’s performance and its themes. It was also a massive commercial success, grossing $255 million worldwide on a $4.5 million budget, with a net profit of $124.8 million, making it the tenth-most profitable film of 2017.
It was chosen by the National Board of Review, the American Film Institute and Time as one of the top 10 films of the year. At the 90th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for four awards, including Best Picture; Peele won for Best Original Screenplay. It also earned five nominations at the 23rd Critics’ Choice Awards, two at the 75th Golden Globe Awards, and two at the 71st British Academy Film Awards. It has been featured in multiple listings of the best films of the 2010s.
Plot
Black photographer Chris Washington is apprehensive as he prepares to meet the family of his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage. Later, at the Armitage house in rural Upstate New York, Rose’s brother Jeremy and their parents, neurosurgeon Dean and hypnotherapist Missy, make disconcerting comments about black people. Chris witnesses strange behavior from the estate’s black housekeeper Georgina and groundskeeper Walter.
When Chris is unable to sleep, Missy pressures him into a hypnotherapy session to cure his smoking addiction. In a trance, he expresses guilt over his mother’s death in a hit-and-run when he was a child, and sinks into a void Missy calls the “Sunken Place”. The next morning, he assumes that the encounter was a dream until Walter acknowledges their brief encounter the night before. Georgina unplugs his phone “accidentally”, draining its battery.
Dozens of wealthy white people arrive for the Armitages’ annual get-together. They express admiration for Chris’s physique and for black figures such as Tiger Woods. Jim Hudson, a blind art dealer, takes a particular interest in Chris’s photography skills. Chris meets another black man, Logan King, who behaves strangely and is married to a much older white woman. Chris calls his friend, TSA officer Rod Williams, about the strange behavior. Chris tries to photograph Logan inconspicuously, but when his flash goes off, Logan becomes hysterical, shouting at Chris to “get out”. The others restrain him and Dean claims that Logan had a seizure.
Away from the party, Chris convinces Rose that they should leave. Meanwhile, Dean holds an auction with a photo of Chris, which Hudson wins. Rod recognizes “Logan” as Andre Hayworth, a missing man. Suspecting a conspiracy, Rod goes to the police, but no one believes him. While Chris packs to leave, he finds photos of Rose in prior relationships with black people, including Walter and Georgina, contradicting her claim that Chris is her first black boyfriend. He tries to leave the house, but Rose and her family block him. Chris attacks Jeremy, but Missy uses a “trigger” that she implanted during his hypnosis, knocking him out.
Chris awakens strapped to a chair in the basement. In a video presentation, Rose’s grandfather Roman explains that the family transplants their brains into others’ bodies, granting them preferred physical characteristics and a twisted form of immortality. Hudson tells Chris the host’s consciousness remains in the Sunken Place, conscious but powerless. Although the Armitages target mainly black people, Hudson reveals he wants Chris’s body only for sight and his photography skills. Missy performs hypnosis, seemingly knocking Chris out.
When Jeremy comes to fetch Chris for the surgery, Chris bludgeons him unconscious, having blocked the hypnosis by plugging his ears with cotton stuffing pulled from the chair. He impales Dean with the antlers of a deer mount, causing Dean to knock over a candle, setting fire to the operating room with Hudson inside. Chris kills Missy but is attacked by Jeremy as he heads towards the door; he overpowers and kills Jeremy before leaving in his car, but hits Georgina. Remembering his mother’s death, he carries Georgina into the car. However, possessed by Rose’s grandmother Marianne, she attacks him. During the struggle the car crashes, killing her.
Rose apprehends him with Walter, who is possessed by Roman. Chris uses the flash on his phone to neutralize Roman, allowing Walter to regain control of his body. Walter takes Rose’s rifle, shoots her in the stomach, and shoots himself, killing both him and Roman. Chris begins to strangle Rose, but stops when a police cruiser pulls onto the scene. Rod steps out of the cruiser and rescues Chris, leaving Rose bleeding out on the road.
Cast
Daniel Kaluuya as Chris Washington
Zailand Adams as 11-year-old Chris
Allison Williams as Rose Armitage
Bradley Whitford as Dean Armitage
Caleb Landry Jones as Jeremy Armitage
Stephen Root as Jim Hudson
Lakeith Stanfield as Andre Hayworth / Logan King
Catherine Keener as Missy Armitage
Lil Rel Howery as Rod Williams
Erika Alexander as Detective Latoya
Marcus Henderson as Walter
Betty Gabriel as Georgina
Richard Herd as Roman Armitage
Keegan-Michael Key as NCAA Prospect
Writer-director Jordan Peele voices the sounds made by the wounded deer, and narrates a UNCF commercial.
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