Fun Thriller; Not Racist and Not Political

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 2017)

People are way overthinking this movie. It's not a social/political satire. It's not racist. Yes, it does make fun of white racist stereotypes of black people, but nobody in their right mind would think the writer/director actually thinks most white people think like the mad scientists in this film do. This is a basic thriller, a piece of old-fashioned movie-making. It is inspired by the classic "The Stepford Wives" which did something similar with sexism as this film does with racism.
The plot involves a young black man who is taken by his girlfriend to visit her parents for the weekend. The family has black servants who act weird. Although the plot unfolds in a somewhat predictable way, the movie is elevated by intriguing parallels that involve the main character's childhood trauma. The mom is a psychiatrist who uses hypnosis, and being a hypnotherapist myself I can say that although these scenes exaggerate the power of hypnosis, they don't exaggerate it by much.
There are a few surprises, but what I liked best about this movie is the strange recurring motif that involves the main character's trauma. We see his weakness but also his strength. That made this film a cut above standard horror/thriller movies.
By the way this movie is not very violent; it's about average for a suspense movie. If you want a slasher movie with a lot of blood and gore this isn't it. It's a thinking person's movie.