Get Out: Horror or Horror Comedy?

Everyone is calling Jordan Peele's surprise smash hit Get Out a great "Horror Comedy". But the truth is, Get Out is straight up a great Horror movie, plain and simple.

So why am I making a point to say that Get Out is Horror and not Horror Comedy? After all, I'm a huge fan of both genres, and frequently talk about how both Horror and Comedy are still not taken seriously enough. But that's just it. Get Out already deserves more credit than it will ultimately get, simply because it's a Horror film. Throw Comedy into the mix, and well, there goes the wide-reaching respect that this movie deserves.

But I also think it's just plain inaccurate to call Get Out a Horror Comedy because it shows a crucial misunderstanding of both movie genres. Many...dare I say most great Horror films are booming with dark humor. Yes, Get Out is particularly rife with the same type of biting racial and social satire that director Jordan Peele is most famous for in his former sketch comedy show, Key and Peele. But Horror and Comedy share something in common--they evoke strong emotions when dealing with dark subject matter. And sometimes they evoke the same physical response--laughter. Does laughter always equal comedy? No. Sometimes laughter is just the only way to respond to something horrific.

I recently went to a 35 mm screening of The Shining at the New Beverly Theater in L.A. The Shining is one of my favorite films. I've seen it more times than I can count. But I never realized how absurdly funny it is until I saw it with a public audience. Like all of Stanley Kubrick's films, it's full of absurd, dark humor which--when paired with the dread of the Horror genre--makes for some serious laughs. Get Out doesn't necessarily exhibit the same brand of humor as The Shining, but the humor functions similarly in the way it tempers the tension and drives satirical points home. Yes, Get Out is a brilliantly humorous socio-political satire on modern racial tensions in America. But its satire is much more horrific than flat-out funny, and the humor exists in the same way it exists in a million other Horror movies.

Jordan Peele is obviously a big horror fan. In fact, he's proven himself a great student, and now, master of Horror with his directorial debut. I'd venture to guess that, were it not for his reputation as a comedian, no one would be calling Get Out a "Horror Comedy". And that's yet another handle. Jordan Peele has now proven himself a colossal talent. So don't pigeon hole him by haphazardly slapping the "Comedy" label on everything he does. He deserves more than that, because he's done something that stands outside the parameters of one box. He's brilliantly directed a great piece of cinematic Horror, plain and simple. When the year is over and we look back at all the movies, there's no way Get Out isn't going to be one of the absolute best. There's just no way. So, I guess, call it what you want, just as long as you recognize a great fucking movie when you see one.