Jordan Peele names his favourite horror movie
The future of horror has never looked brighter. Between the grief-stricken, graphic filmography of Ari Aster and the off-putting dialogue of Yorgos Lanthimos, a new generation of filmmakers has completely reinvented the genre for a modern audience. At the centre of this movement and a cut above the rest is Jordan Peele.
After making his mark on the comedic world with his collaborator Keegan-Michael Key, Peele found a home in horror with his debut feature outing Get Out in 2017. Innovative, satirical, and unrelentingly tense, it cut through the slashers and jump-scare reliance that dominated the genre for years. Peele, instead, provided a new kind of horror that had never been done before and earned himself a ‘Best Original Screenplay’ Oscar, as well as nominations for ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’.
Since then, the filmmaker has only further demonstrated his capability to instil fear through film. Us furthered his blending of social commentary and horror, with a haunting score and excellent visuals, while Nope saw Peele delve into sci-fi territory. He has cultivated an unbelievably consistent and coherent filmography in just three films and five years, proving his place as the modern master of horror.
As well as being a purveyor of the genre, Peele is also a fan. His favourite entry into the genre is the 1968 psychological horror Rosemary’s Baby, as he once explained to Yahoo! Entertainment. The director first saw the film as a child, when he was introduced to it by his mother.
The film particularly appealed to Peele as it was filmed in an apartment building near to where he grew up. He explained his love for the picture in a conversation with Criterion, sharing, “Rosemary’s Baby is probably my favourite film. If you can try doing yourself the service of imagining that you don’t know where it’s going, the movie plays so buttery good. And the visuals are so iconic, and I just adore the world of the movie. It makes me feel nostalgic, because I grew up a couple blocks from the Dakota…”
The horror was so important to Peele that its influence bled into the making of Get Out. “There were so many little things that I got from Rosemary’s Baby,” he recalled, “It begins with [sings the creepy music that plays over the opening credits], which showed me that the way to start a horror movie is to give people a hint of where it’s going to go. Even if you move away from that menacing tone for a bit, people know it’s coming back.”
Peele also took inspiration from the scary scope of the film, noting that he paid “homage to the Japanese character who turns up at the end of Rosemary’s Baby” in a party scene. He explained, “It’s a scary turn in that film because when you see that guy, you realise this is not just a group of run-of-the-mill, Upper West Side devil worshippers. It’s an international cult.”
It’s unsurprising that Peele found his love for horror through a genre classic, particularly with his more personal connections to the film. Over half a century later, Peele is paving a new path for the genre, creating modern classics and inspiring yet another generation of horror fans and filmmakers.
