For some people, the ending is the most important part of a movie.
A bad ending can be a dealbreaker for filmgoers, which is why studios often shoot alternate
endings.
Surprisingly, a lot of them are actually better than the ones we end up seeing.
Spoilers ahead… obviously.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Doesn't Terminator 2: Judgment Day end happily?
The future remained hopefully uncertain... until the sequels ruined everything.
But originally, those sequels wouldn't have been able to exist.
Early in the movie, we see Sarah Connor dreaming of a bleak future in which the world ends.
The original ending had a happy reprise of that scene.
It's set well past the original Judgment Day, and an old Sarah Connor sits, watching her
grandchild plays as the city shines in the distance.
Connor smiles, knowing that she's finally ended the threat of that dark, sequel-filled
future once and for all.
Nightmare on Elm Street
One of the films that kicked off the multi-sequel slasher craze, Nightmare on Elm Street ends
with Freddy seemingly defeated as Nancy hops into a car, happy as a clam.
And then Freddy pops back up, possesses the car, and executes Nancy's mom in the creepiest
possible way.
But in Wes Craven's original script, Nancy drives happily into the distance and … that's
it.
That's the end.
But the studio wanted sequels!
So that last minute surprise from Freddy catapulted us all into a whole bunch of inconclusive
Elm Street movies, for better or for worse.
"Now no one sleeps.
Rah!"
The Descent
Being a horror movie, The Descent ended pretty horrifyingly: After getting trapped in a monster-filled
cave and ending up alone, doomed spelunker Sarah escapes the depths, finds a car, and
speeds away.
When she stops, she sees the ghost of her no-longer-living friend Juno, screams, and
the movie's over.
At least as far as American audiences saw; they had a full minute cut from the ending.
In the deleted scene, Sarah wakes up, still in the cave and covered in blood.
The escape was all a dream.
She crawls toward a figure that turns out to be a hallucination of her daughter.
As the camera pans away, we see Sarah, all alone, smiling at nothing.
The knowledge that she's going to go with a smile on her face doesn't make her fate
any less bone-chilling.
Pretty Woman
A magical fairytale ending wasn't the original idea for Pretty Woman.
In the film, Richard Gere rescues Julia Roberts from her depressing apartment and life, pouring
so much money on her she's probably smothered under the weight of all the gold.
"Oh!
Hahahah!"
But the original script provided much more bleak, realistic ending: Gere and Roberts
don't end up together, and the film ends with Roberts on a bus with her best friend, off
to a day at Disneyland with a wad of cash, despite feeling completely hopeless and lost.
That's more like it!
Little Shop of Horrors
The ending to 1986's Little Shop of Horrors happened as you'd probably expect: with the
human hero offing the carnivorous alien plant, getting the girl, and living happily ever
after.
However, another filmed ending was quite a bit darker — because like in the 1982 musical,
the plant wins.
Over a 12-minute musical number, the plant eats the heroic Seymore and soon, the planet
is overrun with Godzilla-sized, man-eating plants.
It ends with one of the plants jumping through the screen, intent on eating YOU.
Not enough films conclude with nature getting sweet revenge on humanity, so it's too bad
Horrors didn't either.
Final Destination
What do the main characters in Final Destination want to do?
Live.
That's it.
It's probably the most direct and succinct horror movie ever.
It ends with the lead characters escaping — before realizing that the horror hasn't
actually ended.
But the original ending wasn't quite so bleak.
Originally, two of the main characters had a child together, and this new life put an
end to the entire curse.
"Now that we've won, Carter, there's a chance at a full life.
A chance I'm not going to waste."
Luckily the creators realized that this was a brilliant film series that should never,
ever end, and changed it enough so that there could be more sequels.
Freddy versus Jason
One of the most important movies of all time, Freddy versus Jason was one of the first films
to introduce two separate film franchises to each other just to have them fight.
The film ends with Jason emerging from a lake, triumphant, holding Freddy's decapitated head...
which then winks.
So they both win.
According to the commentary track on Freddy versus Jason's home release, one proposed
ending had both Freddy and Jason losing, falling into hell together... where Pinhead from the
Hellraiser series was waiting.
Which would set up Freddy versus Jason versus Hellraiser… which would've have been the
best movie ever, were it not for overly complicated movie rights.
"Oh, scary."
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