Jordan Peele nerds out about Tremors' Graboids and his favorite horror movie final girl
Aux Features Film
You know you’re in good hands, obscure horror movie-wise, when a director can bust out 1995's Tales From The Crypt Presents Demon Knight on a whim. But such is the slasher acumen of Us director Jordan Peele, who promoted his latest entry in the horror movie canon by fielding some questions about the genre from WSJ Magazine this week. In the process he ends up riffing on graboids, Critters, and that thing Michael Myers does where he tilts his head curiously right after he stabs you, and it’s all pretty great.
Demon Knight, for instance, comes up in a discussion of the old “final girl” trope, with Peele highlighting Jada Pinkett’s character—she becomes a sort of immortal angel with a magical, Billy Zane-killing key, in case you somehow hadn’t seen it—as one of the first instances of a black woman serving in the role in a major studio release. He also talks about his least favorite horror tropes, his “Avengers” line-up of classic baddies, and just generally reminds us all that his money is very much where his mouth is when it comes to his love of this kind of messy, bloody stuff.
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This man is a national treasure.
Taissa Farmiga in “The Final Girls” was also a very good final girl
That was a good creature feature
Love his recognition of Shelley Duval’s performance, just gives me the sads thinking about what Kubrick put her through to get that.
I think Shelley Duval in The Shining gives one of the five best performances in a Kubrick film … okay fine since you asked:1. HAL in 20012. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket3. Peter Sellers in Dr Strangelove4. Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange5. Shelley Duvall in The Shining
I’m not going to listen to this pretentious hack.
Boy, this guy talks my language. His boat shoes I can take or leave, but I very much like his appreciation of horror movies.
I can just hear Key giving him shit about those shoes as he watches this.
It really grinds my gears when people wear summer shoes with turtlenecks.
Shelley Duvall really did turn in a masterful performance. I only hope that, as a director, Peele knows what Kubrick did to get that performance.