As what may be considered tradition with Jordan Peele‘s movies, Nope opens again with a Bible verse. This time it’s Nahum 3:6, which says “I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.” Indeed, Peele’s latest film is all about spectacle, and how people are drawn to exploiting their personal horrific experiences for money-making entertainment as a coping mechanism for the inner trauma. This rings true for our lead characters, who believe that capturing clear footage of a saucer-shaped unidentified flying object that’s been zooming around the vast hills of Los Angeles County is their ticket to notoriety, or as they call it, “the Oprah shot.”

The brother-sister lead pair consists of OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer). They own a ranch in Agua Dulce, a location just outside of Los Angeles where they train horses for movie and TV production. Named the Haywood Hollywood Horses, the siblings inherited the family business from their late father Otis Haywood Sr. (Keith David), after getting killed by a nickel through the eye hastily explained as a freak accident caused by airplane debris. Of course, OJ never really bought in that idea, but life goes on. They claim to be descendants of the unnamed Black jockey riding the horse in Eadweard Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion in 1878, considered to by film historians to be the first motion picture. Emerald uses this spiel to reveal that their family has been involved in the movie business since its inception. But they’re barely hanging on nowadays, especially at a time when CGI is readily available.

While filming for a commercial, one of the horses react violently when a crew startles it, and they immediately get fired from the the project. Their livelihood depends on show business, and as the Haywoods continue to face dwindling opportunities, OJ is forced to sell some of their horses to Jupiter’s Claim, a neighboring Western theme park. The owner of that amusement park is Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun), a former child star of a hit film called Kid Sherriff. But what’s he notorious for is being the sole survivor of a gruesome incident during a taping of his ’90s sitcom involving a chimpanzee. In one of the film’s horrifying scenes, a chimpanzee named Gordy started killing the cast after getting rattled by the pop of a balloon. This nightmarish incident certainly traumatized him, as he shrugs off explaining what really happened to a Saturday Night Live sketch. But it brought him fame and fortune, so he can’t leave that nightmare behind, even setting up a hidden museum full of the show’s memorabilia in his park.

Rounding off the rest of the cast is Angel Torres (Brandon Perea), a tech-store clerk who sets up the cameras in the Haywood Ranch and eventually joins the siblings in their search to capture this mysterious flying thing. Michael Wincott plays esteemed cinematographer Antlers Holst who’s perpetually looking for the perfect shot. Holst is the cinematographer in the commercial scene from earlier in the film, and Emerald invites him to join their group. He initially refuses, but eventually gets convinced after a certain incident later in the film.

Nope, the third of Peele’s films, is not as tightly written and less metaphorical as his previous outings. But it’s also his creepiest movie so far, showing how traumatizing experiences can be consumed as entertainment for others. Nope is certainly Peele’s satirical critique of our morbid fascination with tragedy and the horrific. Its characters continue to chase the next horror spectacle, unable to look away even in the face of danger, just to satisfy an inescapable sense of curiosity. The taciturn OJ is the film’s one true introvert among the film’s characters that seek to be in the limelight. He even utters the movie title repeatedly when he knows something is a bad idea, but even he gets caught in the potential results of capturing a clear shot of the flying saucer.

Peele remains a master of creating tension and misdirection. Partnering with cinematographer Hoyt van Hoytema (a frequent collaborator of Christopher Nolan), looking up at the vast sky has never been more frightening. The bright sunny days and overcast nights of Agua Dulce are used effectively, and it’s a scary reminder of the unknown threat that’s constantly looming out there. It’s clear that Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and Close Encounters with the Third Kind are big influences here. After all, the wait for something horrible to happen is more agonizing than when it does, because Peele knows that our own imagination can do a better job. The slow reveal to what actually happened with the chimpanzee on the set of Jupe’s sitcom is one of film’s most memorable scenes.

I do find Nope to be more enjoyable than Us. It’s an easier watch and not as complicated, for sure, and at this point Jordan Peele has earned the right to blend people-pleasing blockbusters with his own filmmaking signatures. Get Out is the beginning of a director finding his footing, and Us is where Peele have settled on a style he can call his own. Now, Nope is the movie that puts him in conversation among America’s greatest horror directors. Peele is more akin to Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone fame than John Carpenter, and that’s evident in his concepts and themes.

Rating: ★★★★☆