Jordan Peele's "Us" Doesn't Deserve the Fuss "Get Out" Got - The Horror is Hollow

Jordan Peele's 2nd feature "Us" is his follow-up film to his truly terrifying and topical debut "Get Out" which earned Peele an Oscar for original screenplay, and Oscar nominations for directing and for Best Picture.  "Us" is a horror genre set in Santa Cruz in 1986; the year millions of Americans held hands across the US in symbolic unity to fend off hunger.   Adelaide is at an amusement park with her parents.  Mom leaves her in Dad's supervision and she wanders off into a deserted "fun house" with the sign "Find Yourself" above its beckoning door.  Adelaide drops her perfect red candied apple in the sand just before entering.  The sugar coated apple signifies the loss of innocence and augurs bloody mayhem ahead.  The fun house quickly loses its charm for Adelaide as she feverishly tries to find her way out through the labyrinth of mirrors.  The doppelgänger reflections fade into a ghoulish living nightmare.  The parents take Adelaide for professional counseling following this traumatizing event.  "I just want my little girl back" cries Adelaide's mom.  The film jumps ahead as an adult, Adelaide Wilson (the talented Lupita Nyong'o in duel roles) with a husband, son and teenage daughter Zora (an exceptional Shahedi Wright Joseph).   The Wilson family is at their vacation home in Santa Cruz and Adelaide flashes back to her childhood trauma.  She pleads with her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) to leave. Blocking their departure is a family standing & holding hands in their drive-way.  Adelaides immediately calls 911 and told the police will be there in 15 {eternal} minutes.  The awry look-alike family garbed in red institutional uniforms force their way in and all Hell breaks loose.  Peele tips his hat to other horror filmmakers like Hitchcock, King and a fruit loopy homage to himself.  Adelaide is shackled and help captive as her menacing twin in a harsh mechanical voice recounts their first momentous meeting that was more than just smoke & mirrors.  Each family member must contend with their mutant murderous look-alike.  The film delivers some authentic chills before transforming into a bloody blundering rampage of the body snatchers.  Elizabeth Moss is excellent as the brassy boozy neighbor with twin girls.  The entire Santa Cruz coast line is under siege. The Wilsons seem to the only people left standing except for those garbed in red uniforms holding hands from sea to shining sea.  The political commentary on the injustice of mass incarceration and gaping disparities in socio-economic class gets evangelized in a subterranean existence that drags the movie down rather than registering a provocative fright that gets under your skin.  Peel's 2nd effort "Us" is a slasher flick that does not reclaim the remnants of glory in "Get Out."