10 Movies That Are Totally Different By The End

How It Starts

Cult '80s thriller Miracle Mile does a frankly magnificent job of luring the audience into a false sense of security. The first 20-ish minutes introduce us to lead Harry (Anthony Edwards) and his love interest Julie (Mare Winningham), without even a hint of the horrors awaiting them.

The establishing scenes are styled in the vein of a corny, cutesy rom-com, as Harry and Julie meet, quickly fall for one another, and agree to meet at a coffee shop after her work shift ends. But aww shucks, a power cut means that Harry doesn't wake up on time.

It sounds like a totally banal misunderstanding on which to hinge a perfectly mediocre indie rom-com, and yet, writer-director Steve De Jarnatt has something else instore altogether.

How It Ends

As it turns out, Harry answers a payphone at the coffee shop and is informed by the person on the other end of the line that nuclear war is apparently set to break out within 70 minutes.

At this point Miracle Mile morphs into a paranoid suspense thriller in which Harry attempts to ascertain the truth while making contact with Julie.

And as almost polar opposite to their adorable date at the start of the movie, it ends with the pair trapped in a helicopter that's sinking into the La Brea Tar Pits - the very place they met at the start of the film.

With no means of escape, they resign themselves to their fate, their only solace being that a direct hit from a nuke would turn them into diamonds. Lovely.