Us (2019)
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A family on vacation is terrorized by a group of menacing doppelgängers known as the Tethered.
The story
In 1986, a young girl named Adelaide encounters a doppelgänger in a house of mirrors, an event that causes her to stop speaking and withdraw from her family. Thirty-three years later, Adelaide, now an adult, joins her husband, children, and friends for a vacation at the beach. During their outing, they encounter a mysterious man who resembles the doppelgänger Adelaide saw as a child. That night, the lights go out and the family is confronted by a group of intruders who are the doppelgängers of their own friends and family members, known as the Tethered, who seek to 'untether' themselves from their counterparts.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1986, young Adelaide Thomas encounters a doppelgänger in a funhouse, leading her to stop speaking for years. In 2019, she and her family are on vacation with friends when they are attacked by 'the Tethered'—doppelgängers of their own loved ones. The Tethered, including Red (Adelaide's double), Pluto, Umbrae, and Abraham, are revealed to be duplicates who have been living underground and are now seeking to 'untether' themselves. After a violent confrontation where the Wilsons and Tylers fight their doppelgängers, the Wilsons flee toward the coast. They eventually reach a beach where they find a mass of bodies and are trapped by Pluto. During the chaos, Red kidnaps Jason, leading Adelaide to an underground facility where she finds Red and a mass of white rabbits. It is revealed that the Tethered were government experiments that failed. In a final confrontation, Adelaide kills Red. As she escapes with her family, it is revealed that the 'original' Adelaide was actually the Tethered who had usurped the real girl's life years ago. The film ends with the Tethered forming a human chain across the land while the 'real' Adelaide smiles.
- First release year
- 2019
- Runtime (minutes)
- 116
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Jordan Peele
- Writers
- Jordan Peele · writer
- Cast and characters
- Lupita Nyong'o · Adelaide Wilson; Winston Duke · Pluto; Elisabeth Moss · Kitty Tyler; Tim Heidecker · Gabe Wilson
- Genres
- psychological horror; psychological thriller
- Themes
- classism; marginalization; American privilege; duality
- Tone and mood
- tense; ominous; scary
- Premise and plot tags
- doppelgängers; home invasion; government conspiracy; horror
- Source material / true-story basis
- The Twilight Zone episode 'Mirror Image'
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 81 · scale: 100 · review count: 56; PostTrak · score: 80% · scale: 100%
- Awards and nominations
- Bram Stoker Award · Award · won; World Soundtrack Awards · Award · won
- Production trivia
- The character of Red was inspired by the condition spasmodic dysphonia.; The film contains numerous references to Jeremiah 11:11.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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