| Director | Jordan Peele |
|---|---|
| Budget | $68 million |
| Box office | $172 million |
In Agua Dulce, California, the Haywood family trains and handles horses for film productions. One day, at their ranch, small metallic objects begin rapidly falling from the sky. A nickel strikes Otis Haywood Sr. in the head, killing him.
Six months later, Otis's children, Otis Jr. ("OJ") and Emerald ("Em") are fired from a production after their horse, Lucky, reacts disruptively to his reflection in a chrome ball used for visual effects. To raise money, OJ has been selling some of their horses to Ricky "Jupe" Park, a former child actor who operates a Western-themed amusement park called Jupiter's Claim. Jupe previously starred on Gordy's Home, a family sitcom about a chimpanzee named Gordy. During filming in 1998, one of the chimps who portrayed Gordy reacted violently to the sound of popping balloons and mauled most of the cast and crew before being shot. Jupe has since settled down with his wife, Amber, and their three sons, but now exploits his trauma from the event in the hopes of revitalizing his career. from Eadweard Muybridge's Animal Locomotion, "the very first assembly of photographs used to create a motion picture", referenced in the film]]
One night, the Haywoods notice their electricity fluctuating and their horses aggressively reacting to an unknown presence. They discover an unidentified flying object (UFO) that has been taking their horses. The siblings decide to document and sell evidence of the UFO's existence, recruiting electronics store employee Angel Torres to set up surveillance cameras. The UFO arrives and abducts a horse that has broken out of the ranch stable, as well as a metal horse statue Em has stolen from Jupiter's Claim to act as a decoy. The next day, Em attempts to recruit famed cinematographer Antlers Holst to help them record the UFO. Holst declines, not wanting to encourage Em in what he considers an unfulfilling pursuit of wealth and fame. Angel arrives, having noticed while watching footage from the cameras a cloud in the valley that never moves; OJ suspects this is the UFO's hiding place before concluding, based on its flight patterns, that it may be a living creature.
After months of secretly offering the Haywoods' horses to the UFO to gain its trust and attempt to domesticate it, Jupe introduces a live show in Jupiter's Claim, intending to use Lucky as bait to lure out the UFO. The UFO arrives earlier than expected and consumes everyone in attendance, ultimately leaving only Lucky alive. While retrieving Lucky, OJ confirms his theory that the UFO is actually a territorial, predatory animal. After the creature showers the Haywood household with the regurgitated remains of the Jupiter's Claim crowd, OJ realizes that it only attacks those who look directly at it and devises a plan to record it. Em and Angel are hesitant until Em receives a call from Holst, who now agrees to help. OJ names the creature "Jean Jacket" after an unruly horse the Haywoods once owned.
To circumvent Jean Jacket's effect of shutting down all electrical equipment in its vicinity, Holst brings a hand-cranked film camera. The group sets up a field of battery-powered tube men to track its location. However, a TMZ reporter trespasses onto the field and is thrown from his electric motorcycle when it shuts down near Jean Jacket, which devours him shortly after. While capturing footage, Holst climbs a hill for a "better view" but instead sacrifices himself to be consumed along with his camera, but capturing footage of the creature. Angel narrowly escapes being eaten by Jean Jacket by wrapping himself in barbed wire. Jean Jacket then unfurls into a much larger form resembling a jellyfish.
OJ intentionally looks directly at Jean Jacket to distract it, allowing Em to rush to Jupiter's Claim on the motorcycle. There, she untethers the park's large helium balloon mascot of Jupe, whose winking eye attracts Jean Jacket's attention. Jean Jacket attempts to feed on the balloon while Em uses a manual camera from the park's coin-operated wishing well attraction to photograph it. After Jean Jacket swallows the balloon, it bursts, violently rupturing the creature's body from within and killing it. With photographic evidence of the creature's existence and reporters arriving nearby, Em sees OJ and Lucky standing outside Jupiter's Claim, unharmed.