Let’s track the use of the word “Nope” in the script.

1: Phyllis on the set of the TV series: “Somehow you’d think a man who can send a rocket into space would be able to manage a halfway decent birthday present...Nope.”

10: Emerald to the TV commercial crew: “Nope. The first ever stunt man, animal wrangler and movie star rolled up in one and there’s almost no record of em... That man was a Bahamian jockey that went by the name of Alistair E. Haywood. My great great-grandfather...”

27: OJ: What’s a bad miracle? They got a word for that?

She thinks.

EMERALD: Nope.

41: A round white face with two dark circular eyes, two white hands, and a dark slight furry form emerges from the deep darkness. It walks wrong.

OJ doesn’t move.

Another head emerges closer.

As they start towards him, OJ shakes his head and backs up.

OJ: Nope.

48: OJ: It’s not coming again tonight.

EMERALD: I don’t care... No. Nope. No. No. It’s too much. Bro, I ain’t never seen no shit like this. It ain’t worth it.

67: LIGHTNING reveals the saucer. Huge. Just overhead. He looks up. It’s above him. The circular disk with the dark circular hole in the center.

The Object WAILS as OJ gets back in the car.

OJ: Nope.

And the last word of the script.

The word is used throughout as a character rejecting something. That raises a question: Why did Jordan Peele choose the word for the title of the movie? Some have suggested it’s an acronym: Not Of Planet Earth.

Here is what Peele said in an event promoting the movie: "I love a rapt audience saying, '’Nope!' or, 'Get out the house!' I love to encourage that interaction because that's what's giving the audience a unique experience."

That’s part of our experience when confronting something potentially terrifying on screen: Part of us wants to say “Nope” … but a part of us wants to peek at the screen. That’s the thrill of movies in the horror space.