There are plenty of fantastic filmmakers that everyone knows and basically worships, and over the past few years,Jordan Peele has joined the list. His breakout hit in the horror genre,Get Out, shook the film world and changed how psychological horror was looked at. Then, a few years later, Peele came out withUs, and the scare aspect was raised a few notches and the gore became a bit heavy. At that point, Peele was well-known in the horror genre, and people were anticipating his next project.Nopewas released, and it became a masterpiece innot only horror but in all film.
Some people reviewing Nope complained that it was boring and not scary enough, but they might not have seen the bigger picture. You might have to watch it a second time or even a third time to get what Peele did withNopeand how heavy the symbolism was. It’s scary, gory,and ultimately very disturbing. Let’s take a look at ten reasons whyNopeis Jordan Peele’s most disturbing movie.
Jean Jacket
First, we have to take a look at the film’s villain, the UFO Jean Jacket. The design of the Jean Jacket is fantastic and terrifying at the same time. It’s jarring when you spot the UFO sitting among the clouds, trying to blend in but ultimately watching them at the same time. When Jean Jacket unfolds itself for the first time and displays its final form, it’s truly chilling.
Jean Jacket is so big, so destructive, and so unapologetic, it’ll be burned into your brain forever. The way it chases after OJ on his horse, tearing up the dirt, creating dust clouds, and eating several people is sickening and wonderful all at once.
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Next, we obviouslyhave to talk about Gordy,the monkey that Jupe worked with on their TV show before Gordy ultimately lost control and massacred several people. The scene is terrifying and nightmare-inducing as we watch a petrified Jupe hide under the table as Gordy goes after the cast, crew, and audience and tears them apart.
The silence is what really makes it at that moment; Jupe’s scared and shaky breaths paired with Gordy’s shrieks as he beats and slams people to death are incredibly disturbing. Then, when Gordy finally notices Jupe hiding under the table and makes eye contact with the camera, you’ll be frozen in your seat as you wait for the scene to play out.
Jean Jacket Eating People
Jean Jacket is a force to be reckoned with, of course, but when it becomes apparent that it actually eats people, you feel a bit more uncomfortable with the UFO. In the scene in which Jean Jacket shows up at Jupe’s theme park, Jupiter’s Claim, you watch in horror as the flying saucer turns on Jupe and quite literally eats everyone in attendance.
The screams when Jean Jacket is digesting them and the shot as the guests are being slid between Jean Jacket’s folds are so gross and scary that they might make you feel claustrophobic. One can’t help but wonder, Where do they actually go? Well, let’s take a look at the house of OJ and Em to get that answer.
The farmhouse that OJ lives in and EM stays in once she comes home is something straight out of a horror movie. It’s huge, in the middle of nowhere, and looks like it could collapse at any second. To make matters worse, when Jean Jacket starts to target the siblings after having a hefty meal with Jupe’s paying customers, it decides to essentially throw up on top of OJ’s house.
It’s just Em and Angel in the home as Jean Jacket gives the house a bloodbath, with chunks of human and other materials coating the roof, windows, and porch. It’s a terrible scene that leaves you shaken as you take in Em’s reaction and how badly it scared her.
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The Perfect Shoe
One big part of the scene where Gordy kills multiple people and scars Jupe forever is the show that’s standing straight up with only two drops of blood on it. Jupe notices it, and he’s confused like the rest of us as to why it’s balancing like that, as if someone placed it like that, but in reality, it happened after Gordy ripped the owner of the shoe to shreds.
Later on, we see that Jupe has now memorialized the shoe and has put it in a display box for fans of the show and massacre to see it. Jordan Peele shared that he loves seeing all the possible theories related to this oddly placed shoe, but he describes itbest as a “bad miracle”.
Going back to Jean Jacket’s design, its eye is something so scary that it makes the UFO that much more disturbing. OJ, being the great cowboy that he is, comes to the conclusion that you can’t look Jean Jacket in the eye unless you want to be eaten.
There are several instances where Jean Jacket tries to taunt OJ and make him look at it to get sucked up, but OJ resists and devises a pretty great plan in order to take it down. It might give you the creeps to think about if you would have the willpower to resist taking a peek at Jean Jacket’s eye, and if you would get eaten or not.
The Biblical Connection
Sometimes, when religion is involved in a horror movie, the film gets a creepy vibe, especially if a cross suddenly turns upside down or something of the sort. In the opening of Nope, a scripture from the Bible, Nahum 3:6, is shown on the screen, and as you watch, you’ll realize the connection between the scripture and Jean Jacket. Nahum 3:6 reads, “I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle.”
One of the biggest themes inNopeis the act ofmaking things a spectacle, specifically the way Jupe does to Jean Jacket. Jupe takes a traumatizing moment from his childhood and decides to profit off of it, then puts his trust in Jean Jacket and exploits the UFO for the people who are dedicated to the Western theme park. Peele’s use of a verse from Nahum and finding the perfect way to connect it is genius and downright alarming.
Jupe’s Jacket
When you realize that Jupe has been working with Jean Jacket and feeding it horses, you get a bad feeling in your stomach. Maybe this is Jupe’s desperate attempt to heal his relationship with powerful beings, such as Gordy, and wanting to exploit it as well and profit off it. On Jupe’s big day of showing the townsfolk what exactly Jean Jacket is, Jupe wears a vibrant red jacket and a white cowboy hat.
The jacket, upon closer inspection, has a bit of a foreshadowing moment as it depicts Jean Jacket on the back, seeming to suck up something in the stitching. It’s a great jacket, and if you love it, you can actually buy a jacket that looks just like it to match Jupe. This moment where we see what’s on Jupe’s back is startling and ultimately depressing, since Jupe put a stupid amount of trust in Jean Jacket and thought he’d be safe, like he was with Gordy.
The Photographer
Em, once learning of Jean Jacket, is desperate to get the perfect shot of JJ and recruits Angel to help her achieve that. Together, they sway a well-known photographer named Holst to help capture the money shot, and at first, he refuses, but he eventually comes around and agrees to work with the siblings.
It’s a very real moment when Holst sees Jean Jacket for the first time and becomes entranced by the celestial being, taking a major risk by exposing himself to get a better picture. That being said, the audience watches in horror as Holst looks up and into the eye of Jean Jacket, and he’s promptly swallowed up and eaten, just like that.
The film score for any movie plays a big part in not only the way the audience receives it, but also how the scene plays out. Michael Abels, a composer who worked on bothGet OutandUs, truly did a fantastic job on Nope, keeping the audience on edge the entire time they watched. He saw what Peele was doing with his writing, casting the audience in slight optimism and wonder before turning those emotions rotten with the feeling of dread, disgust, and disturbance, and he absolutely nailed it with this score.
