Jordan Peele’s NOPE was shot entirely with IMAX cameras.
Academy Award Winner Jordan Peele returns to theaters with another horror masterpiece with this summer’s ‘Nope.’ Peele once again recruits Daniel Kaluuya as the main protagonist, OJ (short for Otis Jr.), who’s joined by his sister Emerald, played by Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun as amusement park owner Ricky Park.
Synopsis
After a falling object mysteriously kills their father from the sky, OJ and Emerald take over their family’s horse ranch. Emerald joins him as he tries to make a career in Hollywood as an animal wrangler. She loves to emphasize their family’s stake in filmmaking as they are direct descendants of the first man ever recorded on a motion picture camera. So when an unidentified flying object repeatedly appears over their land, they enlist an electronics store employee, played by Brandon Perea, to help them set up cameras to capture the object on film.
For a horror movie shot entirely in IMAX, Nope’s true genius lies not in what you see but in what you don’t see. Animal attacks are a central theme in the film, but the gore is often obstructed or depicted offscreen. Instead, the sounds the victims make are what will stay with you. That’s not to say there’s a lack of blood and guts to appease horror fans. But the key to Nope is in the mystery surrounding the nature of the abnormal entity. There is plenty of jump-scares and slow-builds up to terrifying images. Think ‘Signs’ meets ‘Annihilation.’
The sound design is sure to be recognized come awards season. Not to mention the bizarre special effects, especially in the final act. Peele takes a commonplace sci-fi trope, aliens seemingly abducting people in flying saucers, and turns it on its head. This spin is what makes Nope so horrifying. The true nature of the abnormal entity will have people talking for years, just like Get Out.
Verdict
I give Jordan Peele’s NOPE 5 out of five stars. It will be in the theaters starting July 22nd. Read more Reviews on Nerdtropolis and Subscribe to our YouTube.
