Jordan Peele’s Us was one of the more delightful horror movies of 2019, in no small part thanks to its dual starring by Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o. But while Peele’s film proved that Nyong’o can, in fact, both take it and dish it out—“it,” in this sentence, being “scissors-themed home invasions by malevolent doppelgangers—that didn’t stop her from freaking out when confronted with the movie’s horrific attackers in the flesh.
Take, as evidence, the above video, released by Universal as part of its promotion for its annual Halloween Horror Nights event. This year’s version of the annual scare party focused on Us, including lots of jumpscare from various members of the Tethered. And also Red herself, as Nyong’o—after having the shit dutifully scared out of her by people pretending to be the evil double she herself pretended to be (meta!)—then hopped into her old jumpsuit to pass off some scares herself to the hapless crowds.
It’s fun stuff, even if we’re pretty sure plenty of those people were less terrified by croaking monster people with a taste for rabbit, and more genuinely wondering, “Wait, is that just a really good Lupita Nyong’o impersonator, or what?” (It doesn’t hurt that Nyong’o can do that fucking eye-pop look she does in the movie apparently at will.)
But also: Can we talk about this dude for a second? We don’t know how, exactly, you put “Pretended to be Evil Tim Heidecker to scare theme park attendees” on your resumé, but if he doesn’t end up on the next season of On Cinema somehow, consider it an opportunity missed.
