Jordan Peele took the train home from work when he was younger and thought of an underground world that humanity wasn’t aware of. Us taps into that fear we all have. How do we know if life away from earth — or perhaps underneath it — doesn’t exist? If we can exist with all of this technology and intelligence, then why couldn’t another human race?

His 2019 horror movie is arguably one of the most astounding, mind-bending stories ever created with a balance somewhere between Inception, A Quiet Place, and even a smidgen of Silence of the Lambs. However, it’s not only because of his unique plot or star-studded cast but also thanks to Lupita Nyong’o’s incredible skill to visibly contort herself into another person. Because of her, Us serves a truly haunting, slithering feeling to its audience.

The movie follows Adelaide “Addy” (Nyong’o) who has a happy life with her husband Gabriel (Winston Duke) and their children, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex). The family goes on vacation to a beachfront home — a place where Adelaide was traumatized as a child when an unexplained experience happened to her in a funhouse with a girl who looked just like her.

Now as an adult, Addy grows increasingly concerned that something is about to happen, which, of course, does. A group of four masked attackers descend on the Wilson family after Jason tells the parents, “there’s a family in our driveway.” 

A Stellar Cast

Starting with the cast, the audience sees multiple recognizable names aside from Nyong’o. Elisabeth Moss from The Handmaid’s Tale and 2020’s The Invisible Man and Yayha Abdul-Mateen II from 2021’s Candyman. While Abdul Mateen isn’t seen on-screen as much, we still see Moss’ stellar talent come to life in her role as Addy’s friend, Kitty. 

One notable scene in particular is when Kitty and her husband Josh (Tim Heidecker) are invaded by their “tethered” doppelgangers in their own home. Moss cleverly portrays her alternate as a serene murderer, who calmly smiles at her husband (Josh’s alternate) after they brutally stab the Tyer family.

The entire scene happens in a flash, but Moss and the entire Tyler family cast skillfully play their eerie counterparts well. It’s when Moss’ character Kitty helplessly tries to crawl toward her slain husband when we suffer along with her through the anticipation, as both she — and we — know that it’s useless; her tethered self will do what she came to do. 

But the scene where she really shines is later on when she captures Adelaide. The slithering smile Moss wears throughout most scenes is satisfyingly and unsettlingly creepy. Next up is the mirror moment Moss has is just plain scary to look at. First of all, she looks completely different from her alternate human self, who we meet in the beginning, It’s as if Moss takes on a new physicality with her tethered being as she slowly pushes the knife to her cheek and smiles, all the while maintaining a frighteningly thrilled expression in her bright blue eyes.

And finally, Moss deeply scares us in one more way. Her tethered character has a moment when she freaks out and sobs, which gradually turns into a nightmarish laugh. Audiences can never wipe that sound nor the image from their minds. 

Strange Imagery 

Strap in for some seriously weird sights, but not in the way of being truly terrified. The terror comes from the entire concept of the storyline. The imagery makes us question what on earth we’re watching. It intelligently confuses us. 

Starting with the rabbits in the underground community, a viewer can’t help but think how seriously random that is. But was it that much of a random choice on Peele’s part? The answer is, probably not. A rabbit typically symbolizes rebirth, fertility and innocence in Western cultures. But what some don’t know is that it also represents fear, and acts as a trickster in certain cultures.

So, when we see the little white bunnies innocently hanging out underground that Red (Nyong’o’s tethered character) brings us to, the innocent little ones might be a sign of trickery. It’s also noticeable how they seem so unbothered by the disturbing environment Adelaide walks into. Did Peele choose them as a method to foreshadow Us’ insanely clever and well-calculated ending?