Us
★★★Worth watchingIs Us worth watching? (No spoilers)
Us kicks off its climax barely 35 minutes in and then never lets up. It's one long, excruciating nightmare of a night, and I loved it. All four leads are great in both roles. The end drags a bit, but it's a phenomenal horror movie.
⚠️ Spoiler warning: everything below the quick take, including the full review and ending explained, contains spoilers.
Us review
Us seemingly begins the climax of the film a mere 35 minutes in, and then keeps that pacing, stress, and intensity for the next hour and a half.
It's a nightmare of a night that is truly one excruciatingly long sequence, and I love it.
All 4 of the main cast members killed both of their roles, the mom's voice was horrific! The dad is one of my favorite characters I've sene in a while. He was so real and genuine in a way that both added to the terror of the story, and was quite funny at points.
My biggest complaint is that the end dragged a but, with some sequences that felt stretched a bit. But overall this was a phenomenal film!
Is Us scary?
Scare level: 3/5
Yes. It's tense and relentless more than gory: home invasion, creepy doppelgängers with scissors, chases, and a constant feeling that nowhere is safe. A few jump scares, some violence and blood, and Red's voice alone is horrifying.
Us ending explained
Adelaide follows her double, Red, into the underground tunnels and learns the Tethered are clones the government made and abandoned, forced to mimic the people above them. Red has organized them into the 'Hands Across America' uprising. Adelaide kills Red and escapes with her son, Jason.
Then the twist: while driving away, Adelaide remembers the night at the Santa Cruz beach funhouse in 1986. The girl who came up from the tunnels was Red. She choked young Adelaide, chained her underground, and took her place on the surface. The 'Adelaide' we've followed all movie was the Tethered one all along, and Red was the real Adelaide.
That's why the Tethered girl who lived above learned to talk and dance, while the real Adelaide, stuck below, could only rasp. It flips the question of who the villain is, and it's a comment on how much of anyone's success comes down to which side of the line they were born on.
Jason seems to realize it in the final shot, pulling his mask down as his mom smiles at him.
Does Us have a post-credits scene?
No. Us has no mid-credits or post-credits scene.
Movies like Us
- Get Out (2017) – Jordan Peele's first social-horror twist
- The Strangers (2008) – masked home invaders and a terrifying night
- The Purge (2013) – one night of violence that exposes society
- Enemy (2013) – a doppelgänger mystery with a shocking final reveal