10 Blatantly Unfinished Movies (That Were Released Anyway)

Let’s be real here—we’ve all tried to pass off an unfinished project as the complete package when we realize we overshot the deadline and would rather not have our efforts rewards with a big red F. Why, right here at WhatCulture we’ve had to throw 1995’s R-rated Rumpelstiltskin into a dozen articles about terrible horror flicks just to get them up to ten entries.

Okay, so that’s not quite true—it’s actually because Rumpelstiltskin is an underrated nineties horror icon and we’re hoping that raising awareness might lead to a grassroots campaign for a SyFy Channel reboot of his one-film-franchise. But that’s beside the point.

The reality is, sometimes productions run over budget and out of time, and the most pragmatic path for the filmmakers to decide on is releasing the unfinished film in the hopes that the unsuspecting public will be none the wiser. How does this tactic work out?

Well, most of the time it goes off as well as you’d guess, since punters aren’t happy with being given a fraction of the film they were promised. Every once in a while though, a classic flick can get into theatres before it’s completed, and its initial unfinished release becomes a mere piece of Hollywood curio.

With that said, here are ten movies which made it to the multiplex before they were complete—despite the fact that anyone could guess they weren’t quite all there yet.

Okay, so 2011’s Creature isn’t the most famous feature to make this list, but the monster movie needs to be included here more for its crimes against narrative than its relative fame. The flick follows a group of friends through the bayou as they’re pursued by the legendary Lockjaw, a cave-inhabiting alligator-man who haunts local myth and unfortunate passer-bys.

So far, so late-at-night SyFy Channel standard viewing, right?

Sure, and the film even managed to obtain a cameo from genre stalwart and long-time Rob Zombie muse Sid Haig. What Creature failed to conjure up, though, was an ending—or even a final act.

When the film hit cinemas in 2011, critics were quick to note that the climactic confrontation with the titular threat was missing from the final edit—most likely because it was never filmed, with the meagre budget failing to stretch to a full film and the filmmakers hoping audiences would be none the wiser.