Jordan Peele, the perfect storm of horror movies: "I don't think I can make a movie without elements of fear"

First it was a white supremacist family that kidnapped and subdued their daughter's boyfriend.

Then it was the turn of some clones who harassed and attacked a family while they were vacationing.

Now the danger comes from above and hides behind the clouds.

These are the three threats that New York filmmaker Jordan Peele (New York, 43 years old) has placed at the center of the three films he has directed —

(2017),

(2019) and the one that opens this Friday,

—and that express his ideology as a director well: a perfect storm of terror, spectacle, humor and nods to the black community.

And that has earned him to always debut at the top of the US box office, something that no one had achieved with three original stories, written by himself.

In his new proposal, Peele combines his passion for alien films with a critique of the way spectacle is consumed.

And for this he goes back to the origins of cinema, a point at which he takes the opportunity to extol the less visible legacy of the black community in this art.

The protagonists are two brothers descended from the so-called first actor in the history of cinema: the African-American horseman who appeared in the sequence of photographs used by Eadweard Muybridge to create a film in the 1870s. Several generations later they live on his ranch, in the who breed and prepare horses for film and television.

But the arrival of chromas and visual effects has left his business in low hours, as is the case with so many other artisans in the world of cinema.

And as if that were not enough with your economic situation,

More information

Past and present of African-American terror

“When I wrote this movie [during the pandemic] I felt like we were in the middle of a bad miracle.

He didn't quite know what it meant, but he felt as if the world was somehow broken.

And in many different ways, ”says Peele dressed in colorful clothes in a videoconference interview.

“I focused mainly on the idea of ​​offering a show, something that would attract everyone, regardless of what the plot was.

And as I continued to create the story, it became an indictment of the way we consume entertainment."

He does it in a metaphorical way, because for the protagonists the priority goes first of all to trying to record what happens in the sky, to show that something happens.

And then the solution will be found.

The public still doesn't know exactly what to expect from me, which is quite exciting."

To launch this comparison, Peele turns to UFOs.

First, because they excite him: “The legacy of these films is really too little for my taste.

I always want more".

And, secondly, because he considers them an ideal entity: “What I like about UFOs is that they are a kind of perfect mask with which we can project many theories about what is inside.

And that in itself is a perfect horror engine.

It's what Michael Myers and the movie

.

If you offer that blank slate, the public will do the rest of the work to project behind their worst nightmare.

But it is also important to give them the promise that at some point they will find out what is behind that curtain.

That's why I wanted to make a UFO movie.

And then, of course, I also want to surprise the public.”

From left to right, Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Brandon Perea in '¡Nop!', by Jordan Peele.EFE

The filmmaker wants to show that horror movies can be a perfect way of social denunciation, as he also did with

or

and raises more questions on the table.

In addition to racism and morbidity in the industry, child exploitation or animal abuse are also present, which he underlines with the presence of an Asian child and a monkey during a sequence.

“None of them should have been there.

And that's the main part.

But the matter is much deeper.

There are connections between the use of primates in cinema and the history of cinema itself.

And with movies like

, which is about the show itself, and even

, which is about the evolution of humanity and what is to come”, explains the filmmaker.

The list of titles that have influenced Peele in creating

is so considerable that the director himself admits that “seeing how the public identifies and theorizes them is one of the funniest parts” of his work:

He confesses that “in that sense, One film that hasn't received enough credit is David Lynch's

because it's a perfect horror satire on Hollywood.

I think it's perfect."

There is even space to pay homage to the Japanese animation work

which he lists as "the greatest manga" ever created: "The

He has a very special way of narrating.

Maybe it's because of the ambition of their stories and the confidence with which manga and

create new worlds."

I'm surprised a lot of people are trying to figure out why I put that speaker on black people with horror movies."

And although when it comes to directing, Peele drinks from films of other genres, he was always clear that he wanted to make horror films.

“It's a weird addiction, I guess.

I do not know why.

Actually I would say that I don't think he can make a movie without scary elements.

And that it's not based in some way on reality, which is scary and funny.

And when you include nightmarish images, for a lot of people it automatically becomes terrifying.

And I love horror, so in a way I welcome my movies being classified under that name."

Despite immersing himself in terror, the New Yorker always seeks to innovate with his stories, all disparate from each other, although they share his criticism of racism and his praise of the black community.

“I suspect that the public still doesn't know exactly what to expect from me, which is quite exciting.

And I've gotten a lot of love and support for what I'm doing.

But I'm surprised a lot of people are trying to figure out why I put that speaker on black people with horror movies.

It is what is resonating, and I don't think there is a single conclusion about my work that has complete consensus.

Except that people seem to be interested."

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