“Get Out” currently holds a 98% Critic Score on Rotten Tomatoes, maintaining one of the highest ratings in modern horror cinema. The film achieved this remarkable score after starting with a perfect 100% when it first premiered in 2017, a rare accomplishment that reflects widespread critical acclaim for Jordan Peele’s directorial debut.
The slight decline from perfect to near-perfect status occurred when contrarian critic Armond White submitted a negative review, a reminder that even the most celebrated films rarely achieve and sustain universal praise across the full spectrum of professional critics.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: Table of Contents
- How Did Get Out Achieve Near-Universal Critical Acclaim?
- Why Did the Perfect Score Drop to 98%?
- How Does Get Out's Score Compare to Other Horror Films?
- Understanding What the 98% Score Actually Means
- The Distinction Between Critic Score and Audience Response
- Jordan Peele's Impact on Horror Criticism
- The Lasting Legacy of Get Out's Critical Reception
- Conclusion
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When “Get Out” debuted on Rotten Tomatoes in early 2017, it quickly climbed to a 100% rating based on approximately 130 reviews from major critics. This perfect score placed the film alongside only a handful of horror movies in cinema history that had achieved such recognition.
The 98% score represents one review among over 130, a statistically significant but relatively small dissent that speaks to the film’s broad appeal across the critical community.
Table of Contents
- How Did Get Out Achieve Near-Universal Critical Acclaim?
- Why Did the Perfect Score Drop to 98%?
- How Does Get Out’s Score Compare to Other Horror Films?
- Understanding What the 98% Score Actually Means
- The Distinction Between Critic Score and Audience Response
- Jordan Peele’s Impact on Horror Criticism
- The Lasting Legacy of Get Out’s Critical Reception
- Conclusion
How Did Get Out Achieve Near-Universal Critical Acclaim?
The path to a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score reflects the film’s combination of technical mastery, original storytelling, and cultural resonance. Critics praised the film for seamlessly blending social commentary with genuine horror elements, creating a work that operated effectively on multiple levels simultaneously.
The screenplay’s sharp dialogue, the performances from the ensemble cast, and Peele’s directorial choices all contributed to a critical consensus that rarely emerges in the horror genre, where films often divide audiences along more pronounced lines.
The film’s social thriller elements elevated it beyond traditional horror conventions, allowing critics to take it seriously as both entertainment and cultural artifact. Unlike many horror films that critics dismiss as mere genre exercises, “Get Out” received recognition as a legitimate work of cinema that deserved mention alongside prestige dramas and acclaimed independent films.
This crossover appeal helped sustain the high rating across critics from different publications and critical perspectives, from mainstream outlets to specialty film critics.
Why Did the Perfect Score Drop to 98%?
The decline from 100% to 98% highlights an important reality about critical consensus: achieving and maintaining a truly perfect score becomes increasingly difficult as more reviews accumulate.
With each new critic added to the rotten Tomatoes database, the probability of maintaining 100% diminishes, since even one dissenting voice impacts the overall percentage.
“Get Out” lost its perfect rating when film critic Armond White submitted a contrarian review that stood against the broader critical tide, a legitimate exercise of critical judgment even when it contradicts consensus opinion.
Armond White is known for reviewing films against prevailing critical trends, sometimes praising work that others dismiss and criticizing celebrated films. His divergent assessment of “Get Out” represents the value of diverse critical perspectives, even though it cost the film its perfect score.
This pattern occurs across all highly-rated films on Rotten Tomatoes—maintaining 100% requires absolute consensus, and that unanimity rarely survives as more critics weigh in. The film’s 98% rating is therefore not a sign of weakness but rather a reflection of the reality that near-universal acclaim represents the ceiling for modern critical response.
How Does Get Out’s Score Compare to Other Horror Films?
Very few horror films achieve Rotten Tomatoes scores above 90%, making “Get Out” at 98% an exceptional achievement even within the subset of critically-respected genre work.
For comparison, widely-acclaimed horror films like “The Shining” holds 84%, “The Exorcist” sits at 87%, and even recent acclaimed entries like “Hereditary” achieved 96%—impressive scores that still fall below “Get Out”‘s rating. This places Peele’s debut in the rarefied air of films that transcended their genre categorization entirely.
The higher score reflects not only the quality of the filmmaking but also the expanded critical consideration that prestige horror receives in contemporary film culture. Horror as a genre gained increased critical legitimacy in the 2010s, and “Get Out” arrived at precisely the moment when critics had developed frameworks for taking such films seriously.
A horror film from an earlier era with identical artistic merit might have received a lower Rotten Tomatoes score simply because critics would have judged it within narrower genre boundaries rather than as a significant cultural work.
Understanding What the 98% Score Actually Means
The Rotten Tomatoes rating system operates on a simple binary: critics either recommend a film (fresh) or they don’t (rotten). A 98% score means approximately 98 out of 100 critics registered on the platform gave “Get Out” a positive review, but this doesn’t measure intensity of praise.
Some critics may have given the film a mildly positive review while others wrote ecstatic endorsements—all count equally toward the percentage.
The score provides useful information about broad critical consensus but doesn’t capture the nuance of how enthusiastically critics responded. When considering whether to watch “Get Out” based on its Rotten Tomatoes score, understanding this limitation matters.
A 98% rating represents strong confidence that most critics thought the film was worth watching, but it doesn’t tell you whether they thought it was brilliant, competent, or merely solid.
For that level of detail, readers typically need to sample actual reviews or consult the Audience Score, which on Rotten Tomatoes exists as a separate metric measuring what general viewers thought of the film.
The Distinction Between Critic Score and Audience Response
Rotten Tomatoes displays two separate scores for most films: the Critic Score (Tomatometer) and the Audience Score. While “Get Out” maintains its 98% Critic Score, understanding that critics and general audiences sometimes diverge in their assessments provides important context.
The Audience Score reflects how the general moviegoing public responded, which can differ significantly from professional critics’ evaluations, particularly for films that carry social or political themes that resonate differently across different viewer groups.
This distinction matters because a high critic score doesn’t guarantee that you personally will love the film. “Get Out” achieved remarkable critic consensus partly because its themes about race, identity, and power resonated strongly with the critical establishment at a specific cultural moment.
Individual viewers with different perspectives, life experiences, or genre preferences might respond differently. Additionally, a film that sparked important cultural conversations among critics—as “Get Out” certainly did—sometimes receives inflated critical scores compared to its pure entertainment value for casual viewers seeking a straightforward thriller.
Jordan Peele’s Impact on Horror Criticism
The 98% score reflects not just the film’s quality but also Jordan Peele’s significance in shifting how the film industry and critics regard horror filmmaking. Before “Get Out,” Peele was primarily known for comedy through his sketch series “Key & Peele,” making his directorial debut in horror particularly notable.
The film’s success—both critically and commercially—demonstrated that prestige filmmaking and horror need not be separate categories, a lesson that influenced the industry’s approach to genre films in subsequent years.
Peele’s subsequent projects, including “Us” and “Nope,” benefited from the critical and cultural credibility he established with “Get Out.” The 98% rating became part of his filmmaking legacy, evidence that he could execute his artistic vision at the highest level.
The film essentially created a pathway for other filmmakers to bring socially-conscious storytelling to horror, shifting the genre’s critical perception permanently.
The Lasting Legacy of Get Out’s Critical Reception
Eight years after its 2017 release, “Get Out” continues to surge on streaming platforms, a phenomenon directly connected to its critical legacy and the 98% Rotten Tomatoes score that certifies its quality to new audiences discovering it.
The high rating serves as a permanent endorsement that attracts viewers who might otherwise overlook a horror film, trusting that critics found genuine merit beyond genre conventions. This staying power demonstrates that critical consensus, when earned authentically, creates cultural artifacts that remain relevant long after their initial release.
The film’s score and reputation also influenced how the film industry itself began approaching horror and genre filmmaking more seriously.
Studios became more willing to invest in prestige horror projects with social resonance, producers sought out filmmakers interested in using genre conventions to explore meaningful themes, and critics developed more sophisticated language for discussing horror as art rather than mere entertainment.
“Get Out” at 98% represents not just one film’s achievement but a moment when critical consensus helped shift the entire landscape of cinema.
Conclusion
“Get Out” maintains a 98% Critic Score on Rotten Tomatoes, a rating earned through nearly universal critical acclaim that recognized Jordan Peele’s directorial debut as a significant work of cinema that transcended horror genre conventions.
The score began as a perfect 100% in 2017 before declining by one percentage point as additional critics were added to the database, including a contrarian review from critic Armond White.
This near-perfect rating accurately reflects the film’s technical excellence, original storytelling, and cultural importance, placing it among the most critically-respected horror films in cinema history.
For viewers considering “Get Out,” the 98% Rotten Tomatoes score serves as reliable evidence that critics found genuine merit in the film, though exploring individual reviews or checking the separate Audience Score provides additional perspective on why the film resonated so broadly.
Eight years later, the score continues to certify the film’s quality for new audiences discovering it on streaming platforms, evidence that critical consensus built on genuine artistic achievement creates lasting cultural value that extends far beyond initial release.
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