Turns out, that’s because we watched a version with lobotomized subtitles.
As pointed out (with comparative screen caps) by horror blog Icons of Fright, the DVD doesn’t use the original theatrical subtitles — and the new subtitles are, at best, approximations. They completely miss the subtleties, dark humor, nuances, and in some cases even the *meaning* of what was being said.
Upon hearing this, as you can imagine,
Well, it turns out that people getting mad on the internet can actually get things done — the DVD company that released the film in the US has heard the protests, and realized that they were losing sales to people who were downloading bittorrents of the theatrical release. They’ve decided that from this point forward, new printings of the disc will include an option for viewing with the original theatrical subtitles.
The scumbags aren’t offering any exchanges, however.
According to the update, for those that wish to purchase a version with the theatrical subtitles, it will be listed in the tech specs box at the back/bottom of the package — the new version will say SUBTITLES: ENGLISH (Theatrical), SPANISH.