Jordan Peele directs Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Michael Wincott in this sci-fi horror where a horse ranch is terrorised by something in the clouds.

I trust Jordan Peele. I know his first two films work better on rewatch. He doesn’t leave plotholes or skipped stitches. There are always intentional mysteries unresolved but tantalising no matter how closely you peer into his curious death traps. Nope is very ambitious – it really is three or four thinly connected narratives that do not alway gel tonally. The stuff involving animals in the entertainment industry is the most compelling but also the most superfluous to the big picture. But I’m happy for Peele to take big wayward swings when the results are this cinematic. There’s a little bit of Signs here, a lot of Tremors and a soupçon of Werner Herzog. When it lurches into horror it is genuinely fucked up yet it stands out most as a strange adventure. Daniel Kaluuya is, along with Maika Monroe and Hailee Steinfeld, my favourite star under the age of 35. He is physical, laidback and cool as fuck. Now Keke Palmer I have less time for, her but her character is supposed to Ying to his Yang here and that works. A big screen blast, intricate enough that I cannot wait to enjoy it on the telly also.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Signs (2002)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/