10 Horror Movie Scenes You Didn't See (Thanks To Test Audiences)
6. Luke Remains A Mouse - The Witches (1990)
As incredible as Nicolas Roeg's 1990 adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches is, Roeg ended up at considerable loggerheads with Dahl when it came to shooting the ending.
Dahl's book ended with the boy protagonist never being turned back from a mouse into a human, though Allan Scott's script for Roeg's film changed the ending to have him be miraculously transformed back into a person.
Dahl was infuriated when he heard about this, and so as a compromise Roeg agreed to film two versions of the ending - one accurate to the book, the other as written by screenwriter Scott.
Despite Dahl allegedly being moved to tears by seeing his filmed version, test audiences were far more favourable towards the sentimental new ending, and so that's the one Roeg went with.
This upset Dahl enough that he demanded his name be removed from the credits and later called the film "utterly appalling."
Though Robert Zemeckis' recent remake is worse in practically every way, its ending is slightly more faithful to the book, in so much as the boy stays a mouse for the rest of his life.
Considering the tacked-on happy ending is pretty much the only misstep of Roeg's film, it is indeed a shame that the source-reverent climax has never been released, especially given the emotional endorsement Dahl himself gave it.