Oh, you're all done opening presents? Guess again! Universal Pictures has given us all the gift of terror this year by debuting the first trailer to director Jordan Peele's new horror film Us, which features Peele's signature cinematic creepiness, as well as a star-studded cast, including Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o, Black Panther's Winston Duke, and Golden Globe-winner Elisabeth Moss.
Careful, though. This trailer is scary as hell and may cause all that eggnog in your gut to curdle after your first watch.
Peele's sophomore effort has been shrouded in mystery ever since it was announced almost a year ago. According to its synopsis on IMDb, the film follows a family, played by Nyong'o and Duke as the parents, and Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex as the kids, who decide to get some R&R out at their beach house with friends, played by Moss and Tim Heidecker, until "some visitors arrive uninvited." Those visitors, as you can probably tell from the trailer, are horrifying doppelgängers of each character.
If you were thinking that the Us trailer really is like opening a Christmas present—a horrible, terrifying Christmas present with a murderous Lupita Nyong'o hiding inside with a pair of golden shears, that's pretty much how Peele described it, too. At a trailer-reveal event for journalists in L.A. a week ago, Peele called the film it a "nice, eerie, creepy-ass gift" that explores "an undeniable truth...the simple fact that we are our own worst enemies."
Here's another undeniable truth: the film looks gorgeous, thanks in part to cinematographer Mike Gioulakis, who shot the visually stunning horror film It Follows. Here are a few pulls from the trailer to fawn over.
Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke in 'Us'
Lupita Nyong'o in 'Us'
Shahadi Wright Joseph in 'Us'
Shahadi Wright Joseph, Lupita Nyong'o, and Evan Alex in 'Us'
Elisabeth Moss in 'Us'
Considering how huge of an impact Get Out had on not only the genre but also on cinema and society in general, it will be interesting to see what role Us takes upon its release. What questions will it raise, what challenges will it pose, and will we get to see yet another horror film battling all those period dramas and artsy-fartsy coming-of-age flicks at the Oscars?
The film is scheduled for release on March 15, 2019.
Source: Universal Pictures
