Happy Spooky Season: The Horror of Jordan Peele (Music and Themes)
Jordan Peele has provided audiences with some of the most intricately crafted thriller and horror films to date. After watching his three recent films, Get Out, Us and Nope, you’ll start to see what elements make up these soon to be horror classics.
The first thing you might take note of while watching Peele’s films is the music. The first song featured in his breakout film, Get Out, is the 1932 song by Flanagan & Allen, “Run, Rabbit Run!” The simplistic song about hunting rabbits is played when character Andre Hayworth is kidnapped by a member of the racist and terrifying Armitage family. Like most old-timey tunes, “Run, Rabbit Run” has an undeniable creepiness to it already. It’s beat creeps along cheerily with a sense of sick curiosity. The score of the film was composed by Michael Abels, who continued to work with Peele in his other horror films. The main title song, “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” features a range of eerie whispering style singing, with a backing beat that ever so slightly borders on horrific, but not quite. It’s not outwardly scary, but rather, unsettling (a feeling that Peele is brilliant at capturing in his films). The score contains notes of blues and Swahili voices coming together in a muted tone. The phrase used in the main title song translates to, “listen to your ancestors,” furthering the overall message to run.
The opening song in Us, his second film, is a sickening chant. The lyrics are nonsense words sung by children. If you’re easily disturbed by children singing in an echoey choir (like me) then this song is not for you. Us also featured the Luniz and Michael Marshall 1990s rap song “I Got 5 On It” in the driving scene towards the beginning of the film- before everything goes to shit. You might not think “I Got 5 On It” is scary at first, but just wait until the remix. The remix of the song that appears later in the film, referred to as the “Tethered Mix” gives into the creeping and deep beat from the original song. Just like the characters in the film, this remix is the blood thirsty and frightening tethered version of its original. The violin rips into the song and leads into a sinister sound that haunts its listener.
The ominous musical choices lead up all the way to the end of the film. “Les Fleurs” by the iconic R&B 70’s singer Minnie Riperton plays out as the audience makes the nightmarish realization that our main character Adelaide isn’t exactly who we thought she was. The song reaches its climax as the camera pans through the lush Northern Californian forest, showing the tethered holding hands. Minnie Riperton’s dreamy voice takes on a horrific tone and the echo chants throughout the rest of the song perfectly match up with the rest of Michael Ables’ score.
The sci-fi horror film Nope featured a remix of the 1980’s classic “Sunglasses At Night.” The warped song plays out deeply, showing how the alien is able to disturb electricity in the film. The rest of the score is odd to describe. There’s a sense of silence that follows throughout, which highlights the horror of the alien in the movie. It’s beyond incredible to witness but it’s still something to fear. The song “Blood Rain” plays over the scene of the blood storm- innards and blood pouring over the home of the Haywood siblings. It has a heavy sound that portrays the horror of realization that something is terribly wrong. There are elements to it that sound like classic horror, almost like music in a Hitchcock film.
Beyond the music lies the messages that Peele nestles within each of his films. His movies leave you thinking, mulling them over throughout the next couple of hours after watching them. It’s not as straightforward as a Halloween slasher or a supernatural demon devouring its victim. It’s not doused in blood and guts, and it doesn’t rely on too many jump scares. Instead, the themes of his movies are just… unsettling. While it might not be blatantly scary, the messages of the films and how they are portrayed are what make them so horrific.
Peele was able to show the horror behind micro-aggressions, specifically coming from the white middle class. He was able to capture the odd yet impossible to ignore fear that’s felt when you’ve been othered. He took the concept of doppelgängers and played with the idea of meeting someone who looks just like you, with something slightly off- the soulless version of you. He married that with the idea of classism and privilege. In his recent film, Peele detailed the terror behind our addiction to spectacle and exploitation of creatures we think we can control. It’s clear that Peele takes care to create more than just a horror film, but a horror experience of things that might not seem scary at first. Upon watching his films, you’ll settle into the true terror that lies beneath.