Ok, I'll be honest with y'all. I bought this movie as soon as it came out, so I've had it for a few years now. But every time it came around to watching it...I chickened out. I watched the trailer and it actually made me cry, I was so freaked out. So I put off watching it because I was afraid. I mean, I honestly think I KNOW what happens. I'm not white, but I *look* white, so people feel comfortable making the vilest racist comments around me, and it makes me want to puke and die. I don't want to live in a world where those things are ok to think and say (if people say that out loud, think of what they might hold back?) So yeah. Racism. Ew. And from gleaning what I've heard online, I'm pretty sure I have a good idea what happens in this movie. Similar to "The Stepford Wives," in a lot of ways, which I'm already the hugest baby because I bought that movie years ago and I'm afraid to watch it too. So yeah, I'm a huge baby. And I'm scared. But I'm watching this movie today, because I think it deserves that much.
So this movie is about a guy named Chris and his girlfriend named Rose. They've been dating for awhile, so they're at the "hey, let's meet my parents" stage of dating, so Chris heads away for a trip to meet Rose's parents. At first, Rose's parents seem overly accommodating, and he chalks it up to her parents being nervous because of the difference in race (he's black, she's white). As time goes on, though their behavior seems more and more sinister. Soon he's fighting for his sanity, his soul, and his life.
So last year a friend of mine watched "Tales From the Hood" for the first time, and he complained that the movie was racist, because all the white people were racist against black people. I tried to explain to him that first, that wasn't true, there were some good white people in the movie, but they weren't in big roles because for the first time, most of the characters in the movie were black. Most of the time, all the people in these horror movies I watch are white, so it's rare to see a black character, let alone them be the majority of the characters in the movie. Second, these "tales from the" type movies are about bad people getting to hell and being forced to review their pasts looking back on their lives and seeing how what they did was wrong, so yes, most of the white people are racist just like most of the black people are violent and evil, because they're BAD and the stories in the movie will reveal how and why they are bad people and why they deserve the punishment of hell. Third...dude, watch all these horror movies with almost all white characters, then pick the only movie in the whole bunch that contains actual black people, then say that movie is racist against whites. He said that helped him put things into perspective.
I think the worst part of all of this is...he loves her. Chris really loves Rose, so he's willing to put up with a lot from her family because he really cares for her. You can see it in his eyes when he looks at her and talks to her. I've been in love before, and it made me ignore red flags that could have covered several acres of land, because I loved that person, and LOVE CONQUERS ALL, right? It's do wrong to take advantage if that love, but people do it every day.
So at one point I'm screaming at the screen "no, what's wrong with you?! You're doing the same thing all the stupid white people do in the horror movies, you dumbass!" And yeah, true facts. When Chris calls his friend halfway through the movie, and his friend tries to warn him that the situation is fucked up, but Chris doesn't want to listen...I was screaming at the screen, like I do during horror movies (why do they never listen to me?) It's just...during some movies, we're watching like...mutated fish rip people's heads off, right? And that's not going to happen, right? But there are a depressing number of white people who hate black people and think they need to be subdued and controlled...so you can't comfort yourself with "oh, well, it's just a movie, it's pretend" BECAUSE IT'S REAL. Or it could be real. And that's what makes it terrifying.
In movies like this, It's often a choice between the person in danger keeping quiet and trying to please everyone, or choosing to run and save whatever life they can salvage from the wreckage. Take it from one survivor who ran...even over 20 years later, I sometimes look back and question my choice. I know the danger I was in, I know the daily death threats I heard, I can still feel the plaster from the wall hitting my face when someone shoved a knife into the wall right next to my head...and sometimes I still miss the family I had that I wish I was crazy just so I could take it back.That's just as crazy as it sounds, but it's true. The only family and home I knew was slowly killing me, yet sometimes I wish I coduld go back. So I get how Rose feels in this movie. She loves her boyfriend, but she loves her family, and she's known them all her life. So what does she believe? Who does she choose? Or is it even a choice, has she known the truth all along and she's just playing along with the sick game?
So the movie is over, and I'm done having my panic attack, and I'm thinking...honestly, I'm not sure what to think. At one point during the conclusion, I was sure the movie had jumped the shark, and it was just too silly to be salvageable, but then it kept going, and it got scary again, then silly, then scary, then funny (in a good way) and overall, my opinion of the movie is positive. I think it does a lot right, and taps into some deep seeded fears (meeting your partner's parents is often terrifying, even if no one is a big old psycho). Like Jordan Peele (the director) says, it "rings true." But I just feel like the movie gives too much away and becomes more physiological than psychological, and it would be better keeping more hidden and unknown. Thpugh I've watched the special features, and the alternate ending was something I liked better than the theatrical ending, but I understand why he changed it, and I do think it works out in the end. Stephen King once said that no matter how mysterious you try to keep your villain, at some point you have to put on the monster mask and go "ooga booga!" And when you do, you run the risk of the audience saying "oh THAT'S IT?! I thought it would be way worse," and maybe that's what I'm doing now. But so much of this movie is good and worth checking out that I won't let some ambivalence about its conclusion make me miss that it's a good movie. Just maybe flawed. But better than a lot of movies, so it works for me. I'm glad I finally watched it.
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