Director Jordan Peele Explains How He Builds Suspense in Us

Universal Pictures

Jordan Peele's latest film Us was praised by both critics and fans, and it also broke horror box office records when it earned $70 million domestically on its opening weekend. There's a lot of memorable scenes in the film and one of the most intense ones is when the Wilson family first encounter their tethered doppelgangers. It was a suspenseful scene that also made the audience laugh, and if you're wondering what writer/director Jordan Peele was thinking when crafting that scene, here's a video from The New York Times:

In the video, Peele breaks down the moment the family of Doppelgangers first arrive in the Wilsons' house and he explains how he built suspense in that scary yet humorous scene.

"One of the unique techniques that I utilized to get that terror was that all of a sudden we go into real time," Peele explains. "The movie before this has been going from some time dashes here and there. When we get into this moment where the four family members are standing holding hands outside, then we go into this sort of fluid - we use a lot of the Steadicam with a very few edits. Really trying to subliminally signal to the audience that this sort of relentless real-time event has begun."

Peele also explains how the classic horror films The Poltergeist and Halloween influence the creation of that scene.

Jordan Peele's Us is now showing in theaters.

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