WARNING: There are major spoilers ahead for “Get Out.”
Every horror movie fan knows about the bait-and-switch ending: The hero looks like he has escaped the danger, only for a shocking final twist to send him hurtling to his doom. Sam Raimi used it in both “Evil Dead” and “Drag Me To Hell,” “Black Mirror” makes frequent use of the trope, and, as it turns out, Jordan Peele almost used it for his breakout hit “Get Out.”
An alternate clip for Peele’s popular horror film shows how the comedy star-turned-horror filmmaker originally planned for Chris’ horrific visit to his girlfriend’s family to end. As “Get Out” fans know, the movie ends with Chris attacking his girlfriend, Rose, out of rage for luring him into her family’s deadly trap. Just as he decides not to kill Rose, a police car shows up, and Rose screams for help hoping that it will frame Chris as a killer. But instead of a cop, the police cruiser turns out to be Chris’ buddy, Rod, who comes to the rescue and drives Chris away.
But in Peele’s original ending (embedded here below), the cruiser does indeed contain police, who arrest Chris for murder. The scene then cuts to Rod visiting Chris in prison, who refuses to protest his innocence and is content in the knowledge that he stopped Rose’s family from hurting anyone else.
That ending would have been one final shot against police prejudice towards black men in a movie filled with statements on the injustices faced by African-Americans in 2017. But in an interview on BuzzFeed’s “Another Round” podcast, Peele said he ultimately felt it wasn’t necessary to have such a downer ending as the rise of Black Lives Matter movement had already forced the issue of police violence in black communities into the national spotlight by the time it came to film “Get Out.” Instead, he decided to put Rod in the car to provide catharsis for the audience.
“It was very clear that the ending needed to transform into something that gives us a hero, that gives us an escape, gives us a positive feeling when we leave this movie,” Peele said. “There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the audience go crazy when Rod shows up.”
Watch the alternate ending in the clip above — that is if it’s still playing, seeing as it’s unofficial.
You can pick up “Get Out” on Blu-Ray when it hits stores everywhere May 25.