A really good suspenseful mystery that deserves a re-watch (or two)

Rating: 8/10 (23 April 2018)

When the promotional TV spots for this were shown in commercials, I don't think I thought too much of it; probably believed that the movie wouldn't be so successful, given how many horror movies (with few exceptions) have been failures the past couple years. So I was quite surprised to see how big of a hit it became -- "100% on Rotten Tomatoes," said one of the commercials for a brief period.
Still, I didn't see it until towards the end of the year on DVD (after a long wait on the hold list from the library). I went into it as vague as possible - I only knew the basic premise, that there's something weird about the family, and that's pretty much it. I paid as close attention to the dialogue, and was along for the ride as Chris, the main character, kept picking up all these off-putting things about Rose's family, servants and party guests. I also kept wondering if Rose knew of her family's intentions, or if she was really clueless. As we got to the twist/reveal, as messed up as it was, I saw the social commentary in it.
The ending, I felt was a tad weak; I soon learned that it was originally going to be very different, if not depressing. While I totally understand and appreciate why Jordan Peele decided to change it to a more hopeful one, his original ending would've definitely been more impactful (this is quite apparent by his comments in the audio commentary).
After I finished watching it by myself, I was eager for my parents to join me for a second time on the weekend. This is one of the few times I bothered checking out the special features - in fact, I watched all the deleted and extended scenes and interviews! I also love the theme with the eerie chanting that plays over the opening and ending credits, and have re-listened to it on YouTube.
My family doesn't understand why love this movie so much. I watched for a third time on HBO yesterday, and am thinking of buying it on DVD. My mom thinks it's just because Daniel Kaluuya is handsome, but I've explained it's because you pick up on things by seeing it again, and that's obviously one of the reasons audiences kept going back to see it in theaters.
It's definatley a much creepier movie than I initially thought whenever I think back on it. Another interesting thing is that I saw this just a month after reading/seeing My Friend Dahmer and learned about Jeffrey Dahmer; it shouldn't be a coincidence that Dahmer was briefly brought up in this (by the hilarious Rod), he was undoubtedly one of the influences to this story. I'm pretty impressed that this is Peele's directorial debut, after having only worked on comedy; I haven't been familiar with him before, but now, I'm excited to see what he'll do next (he's going to work on a Twilight Zone reboot)!