an absolute spectacle. Okay, so what happens next? Are
you ready? Here we go, nope, critically acclaimed
writer, Director Jordan Peele i out with a new horror
thriller titled. Of course, nope, it's about two
siblings trying to capture on camera what looks like a
ufo wreaking havoc around their California horse ranch.
This is Peele's third film, all of which have gotten
rave reviews from critics, Check out these rotten
tomatoes scores for the Oscar winning get out along
with us and now, nope joining us now to discuss nope
and Peele's impact on the horror genre is Alissa
Wilkinson, film critic and senior culture reporter at
Vox. Thank you so much for being here. First thing I
gotta say is no spoilers because I haven't seen nope
yet and I plan to as soon as possible. But in your
latest article you wrote about Jordan Peele's, nope
explained unpacking the spectac at the heart of the
movies mysteries. So to that point, Alissa, what is
Peele doing with his movies that's maybe different o
elevated from what typical horror fans are used to
seeing. Yeah. In some ways I think that Peele is
bringing back a tradition that has sort of disappeared
from horror for a while, which is the social horror
film films that kind of addressed social topics uh, in
the midst of being hugely entertaining. So a lot of
people know that get out. It's about, you know, kind of
racism and us was a little bit more oblique and nope is
also, but it's, it's also just a really good time at
the movies. You don't have to know what it's doing in
order to enjoy it. And so you wrote in your article
quote, since the relatively straightforward get
Peele's work has moved away from simple explanation an
toward discomforting vibes and that's to its credit. So
it's kind of what you were talking about there, but c
you elaborate a little bit again on this specific movie
without any spoilers? Yeah, so no spoilers, but I think
that first of all, it's just kind of a scary movie
which is really fun. You know, a big scary movie,
Flying saucers is not, you know, something that we
often get to see in the movies anymore. There's hor
there's creepy images, There's lot of stuff that will
kind of stick with you. Um But when I think about his
movies now, I think sometimes our temptation is to want
to like pick them apart and make every single piece of
them allegorical or metaphorica Um and they're not
all like that, A lot of it is just like really fun. Um
So it's been a really enjoyable movie to watch. And
would you say that there are themes that do extend
throughout all three of these movies that you could
kind of put them all together in a category or they
really just different, just equally scary or equally
good. Is there any sort of genre combination betwe
the three of them. Yeah, I mean he's definitely
interested in race in America and in this one,
particularly Race in Hollywood. Um and that's always in
his movies, but it's not the only thing that he's
interested in. Like for instance, um an interesting
part of us, his last movie before this was that it's
about how we interact with one another and how we are
all responsible for one another And no kind of dips
into this idea of of the spectacle culture, that
entertainment has created this um thing where where we
need to keep amping up our entertainment, we need to
keep making things bigger and, and louder and more
spectacular in order to grab our attention and he's
just really interested in that. Um so I think that, you
know, while that that element of thinking about race in
America is always there. It's not the only thing that
he's interested in. Right, righ It's a mix of mixing
it all together. So I really loved us. I really thoug
that was great. So would you recommend folks that like
to get out on us to see No real quick. Yes, I total
would. I think you'll have a great time. You know,
screams fun. It's a great movie, but you also become
away with some stuff to chew on and maybe wanting to
see it again. Alright, Alissa Wilkinson senior cultura
reporter at Vox, thanks so much for being here this
weekend. Looking forward to seeing it. Thank you. And
Nope did take the number one spot at the box office
this weekend, with an estimated $44 million North
America.