'Us' Is the Rare Thriller That Gets Even Better Each Time You Watch

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Lupita Nyong'o confronts herself in Jordan Peel's "Us." (Universal)

'Here's the real shocker: Watch "Us" for the first time without any spoilers, and it's a great horror movie with an amazing twist. Watch it again (and again) after you know the ending, and it just keeps getting better. Writer/director Jordan Peele has created what seems like a more straight-ahead movie than his breakthrough hit "Get Out," but "Us" is every bit as deep and far more complex than his earlier film.

"Us" is one of the very best movies this year, and here's hoping its early 2019 release doesn't cause it to be left out of the awards discussions next winter. Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay nominations should be a lock. Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke should be nominated for Best Actor and Actress, plus Tim Heidecker and Elisabeth Moss should be up for Best Supporting nods. Let's just throw in Best Score, Best Editing, Best Makeup and Best Production design for a full set.

Here's the basic plot outline: A young girl has a traumatic experience at a California beach and returns decades later with her husband and her own young children. Weird things happen.

Do yourself a favor. See this movie with as little advance knowledge as you possibly can. If you enjoyed it in a theater, it's worth owning your own copy. The home video version is loaded with bonus materials that feature some directing master class tips from Peele. It may be early to crown the guy, but he's showing the chops to be our modern Alfred Hitchcock and he's more than willing to share his creative process with us.

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