Writer/director Jordan Peele’s Get Out is a nuanced throwback to the deliberately paced horror of the 1970’s that finds the veneer of horror peeking through prejudice in the modern day.

Years ago, I went to the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in downtown Los Angeles’ Museum Row as part of a writing scholarship I had received in graduate school. The Museum of Tolerance’s mission is to explore the world-wide history of prejudice against minority groups through exhibits and educational tours and talks and it does a great job of doing so. The most prominent feature of the museum is its unique entrance. It has two doors to enter. One is marked for those who are prejudiced. The other is marked as an entrance for those who do not have prejudice in their heart.

By far, almost every first time visitor tries to open the “not prejudiced” door to get into the museum. I’ve seen people struggle and throw themselves against it; even complain that the door must be accidentally locked. But that’s just it. The door does not open. It never did. The point of the door is to show visitors that everyone has been exposed to prejudice no matter their background. Even if they think that race is not a major concern after the election of Barack Obama and the country is somehow in a post-racial period.

This is a key element of subtext in Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out. Much like 1975’s The Stepford Wives dealt with the effect of changing paradigm of women’s roles in the traditional family unit in the wake of feminism in the 70’s, Get Out looks at the role of race in modern relationships in the wake of Obama’s America. Miscegenation was a key element of subtext in the 1967 film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, with supposed liberal parents being shocked at their daughter being with a black man. Peele subverts the expectations of this influences and channel that with the work of Ira Levin in The Stepford Wives and 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby in this unique film.

Daniel Kaluuya (Black Mirror) plays Christopher, a photographer with a unique eye (in a nod to Katherine Ross’ protagonist Joanna Woodhouse in The Stepford Wives). Kaluuya’s work has drawn some critical notice and is planning to go away for the weekend with his girlfriend Rose (Girls Alison Williams) to meet her parents for the first time. Christopher is initially dismayed when he discovers that Rose has not told her parents that he is a black man; she doesn’t consider it an issue, claiming her parents are liberals and would’ve voted for Obama for a third term if possible. Along the way, the two hit a deer and Christopher is asked for his ID for the police, even though he wasn’t driving. Christopher takes it in stride; this is an instance of what being a minority in America entails and Rose is outraged. Incidents like these are sprinkled throughout the film, Peele uses them to build tension throughout and create expectations which are sometimes subverted and sometimes rewarded based on our own views of prejudice. Upon arriving at Rose’s family home, he meets her father, Dean (Bradley Whitford) and mother Missy (Catherine Keener). Dean is a successful neurosurgeon and Missy is a psychiatrist who practices hypnotherapy; both are friendly and receptive to Christopher. However, Christopher is more put off by their “help,” a black groundskeeper Walter (Marcus Henderson) and black housekeeper Georgina (Betty Gabriel), who seem very docile and bizarre in their attitude. Missy offers to help Christopher quit his smoking habit through hypnosis and eventually does so, bit in so doing, opens up a world of paranoia in Christopher. Especially when Rose’s extended family and friends show up for a yearly event that makes Chris question if he’s losing his mind and whether he can trust his girlfriend.

The less you know about Get Out going in, the better. While its a throwback to deliberately paced films like The Stepford Wives and Rosemary’s Baby, it injects humor throughout to break up the tension and keep the story moving. The screenplay to this film is extremely tight and everything introduced has a payoff; in many cases throwing off expectations ingrained by movie tropes and inherent prejudice to great effect. While the film deals with racism and prejudice, it isn’t done in an overtly preachy way. Ultimately, Chris’ fate is tied to his professional life; not to his race, which is an amazing and welcome plot subversion. This is the world that these characters and we live in, the horror and thriller elements work because its something we recognize in the society around us. We see prejudice and it isn’t an alien horror. its something that colors the world around us and here it is used to great effect as a subtext for the horror in Get Out.