12 Alternative Horror Movie Endings You Didn't See

Mike Enslin is a depressed writer who, after the death of his daughter, has taken to churning out pulp crap on America's most haunted hotels. When an anonymous postcard peaks his curiosity, he decides to visit room 1408 in New York's Dolphin Hotel, despite attempts to dissuade him by the hotel manager, Mr. Orlin (Samuel L Jackson), due to 56 people having died in that very room.

Apparitions, paintings that come to life and extreme hallucinations of his dead daughter all lead to Mike torching the room, himself with it. The theatrical cut ends with his funeral and Orlin listening to the voice of Mike's dead daughter on a dictaphone, proving the existence of the supernatural.

There are, however, not one, but two alternative endings. The first, in which Mike survives ordeal, reunited with his estranged wife. This time, they hear their daughter's voice, again proving Mike's story of ghostly experiences within 1408, with the added positivity of a marriage rekindled.

In the second, Mike still dies but here the closing sequence has Sam, Mike's lawyer, finding the dictaphone whilst reading a manuscript written by Mike in 1408. Sam's office door slams and is followed by the voice of Mike's father, repeating a line from earlier: "As I was, you are. As I am, you will be," alluding to his father's dementia.

The director's cut is certainly the most tonally sensitive, given he now has a second chance to patch up his relationship, rather than the abrupt conclusion offered on release.