In just a few short years, Jordan Peele has emerged as a master of satirical horror. Following his successful background in stand-up comedy with Keegan-Michael Key, Peele came out of leftfield with his solo directorial debut Get Out. Fusing Invasion of the Body Snatchers with 12 Years a Slave, the film offered a canny critique of liberal racism ensconced within an audience-friendly package that was terrifying and hilarious by turns.
Peele later claimed the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, making him the first African-American filmmaker to do so. (He also expressed bemusement at the Golden Globes classing Get Out as a comedy; Peele instead classed it as "a documentary.") His sophomore movie, Us, was even more ambitious, a tale of underground doppelgangers that fans out into a wider critique of American society, all the while hinging on a stunning dual performance from Lupita Nyong'o.
Can Peele knock it out of the park the third time around? We'll soon find out when said movie, Nope, hits cinema screens this summer, released via Peele's Monkeypaw Productions label. A little tease has been revealed in anticipation of the full trailer, and it's not giving too much away. Suffice it to say, the movie reunites Peele with his Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya (now an Oscar-winner in his own right following Judas and the Black Messiah), plus Hustlers' KeKe Palmer and the Oscar-nominated star of Minari, Steven Yeun.
That's quite the cast for a movie about which we know nothing at all. The brief shots of the aforementioned actors appear in rapid succession, and each is shown looking into the sky with a certain amount of apprehension. Is Peele about to launch into the alien invasion genre? If so, we can expect more than a few subversive and unexpected angles in line with his previous films.
Truthfully, this tease is more about re-asserting that familiar Peele brand: arresting visuals, strong performances, trenchant social critique and an underlying air of menace that spills over into genuine horror. We can surely expect all of this and much more when Nope hits Cineworld screens on 22nd July 2022. Let us know your thoughts on the movie @Cineworld.
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