An acclaimed psychological horror film that scared fans sleepless and left them ‘paranoid for days’ is now streaming for free.
Jordan Peele’s second movie after Get Out, Us saw him dubbed the ‘modern day Hitchcock’ in breathless first reactions thanks to the film’s blend of big ideas, terrifying scares and exhilarating performances.
Starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph and Elisabeth Moss, Us follows the Wilson family as they return to the beachfront home where Adelaide (Nyong’o) grew up as a child for a holiday.
But Adelaide is haunted by a traumatic experience from the past, and her nightmarish worst fears over something bad happening soon become a reality when four masked strangers descend up on the house, forcing the Wilsons into a fight for survival.
In a creepy twist, these masked individuals turn out to be twisted, violent versions of themselves, making the Wilsons – quite literally – their own worst enemies.
Us was added to BBC iPlayer again this week for a limited time only, having first been available to watch there last year, where it sits among other iconic horror movies like The Omen and Halloween.
It is currently available to watch for the next 28 days, if you’re a horror fan who’s already already on top of big recent horror cinema releases like Together and Weapons.
The flick boasts a very impressive 93% rating on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes from 552 individual critic reactions since its release in 2019; that it has sustained such a high score with such a large volume of reviews also confirms an overwhelmingly positive consensus.
‘Jordan Peele’s Us is one of the most original horror titles in recent years. This movie is destined for greatness,’ declared Jordan Barkan for Dread Central at the time, while Empire magazine called it ‘a stunning sophomore effort from Jordan Peele’.
‘The showpiece scares in Us are the opposite of ordinary horror jolts: its big shocks dawn slow, and they don’t recede,’ wrote Robbie Colin in his five-star review for The Telegraph, calling it ‘a sinister masterclass in spiralling terror’.
‘It’s a film that confirms Peele as that rarest of things – a true auteur,’ said Dan Stubbs for NME, while Jamie East called it ‘the first conscientious horror’ in his five-star review for The Sun.
For Metro, Rishma Dosani described Us as ‘a film that will stay with you for days’.
‘What Peele manages to do so well is leave you breathless with sheer terror one second, and unable to stifle a laugh the next,’ she added in her four-star review.
Fans were equally enthusiastic, with Caitlin Stewart admitting in her five-star Google review: ‘This was the first film I’ve watched that made me genuinely scared too sleep at night, I was paranoid for days.’
Comparing it to other famously terrifying horror movies like The Conjuring, Hereditary and The Shining that she’d seen in recent days too, she added that ‘Us is the only one that genuinely terrified me’.
‘I find myself thinking about Us time and time again due to how unforgettable and fresh the movie was,’ wrote Brandon L, while Zoe Gardiner added: ‘This film is the greatest, most shocking cinematic masterpiece I have ever endured.’
‘This is a genius masterpiece. A psychosocial thriller for those who want to get chills and challenge themselves to understand what’s going on,’ Kylie A suggested.
Us is streaming on BBC iPlayer now.
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