10 Movies That Almost Had Much Better Endings
9. Paranormal Activity
The Actual Ending
Katie (Katie Featherston) gets out of bed in the middle of the night and heads downstairs, screaming for her boyfriend Micah (Micah Sloat).
He wakes up and runs downstairs, and after a beat, we hear loud footsteps returning upstairs, only for a possessed Katie to throw Micah's dead body at the camera, knocking it over.
Katie then approaches the camera, flashes a demonic, CGI-assisted grin, and disappears into the night.
The One We Almost Got
The original ending screened to early festival audiences before the film was bought by Paramount was a lot less open-ended. After it's implied that Katie has killed Micah, she returns to the bedroom and rocks back and forth for days at a time.
The police eventually arrive to discover Micah's body, and just as they find Katie upstairs, the demon leaves her body, causing Katie to awaken confused.
Just as Katie approaches the cautious police officers with a bloody knife still in hand, the demon slams the door behind the cops, startling one of the officers who promptly shoots Katie dead. The film then ends with the officers sweeping the rest of the house as a memorial title card flashes up for Katie and Micah.
Once Paramount acquired Paranormal Activity, however, they decided to shoot several different endings in the hope of extending the film into a franchise.
Why It Would've Been Better
For starters, this ending was a satisfying one-off that wouldn't have opened the door for a string of increasingly forgettable sequels, and the execution was both smarter and more tragic, with the demon tricking Katie into getting herself killed.
Conversely, the theatrical ending involved a hideous visual effect and a lousy final jump scare, neither of which were apparent in the original finale. Such is what happens when Hollywood discovers a creative original idea, sees money signs, and promptly turns it into something decidedly more conventional.