50 Infuriating Horror Movie Characters We All Secretly Wanted To Die
32. Deep Blue Sea - Dr, Susan McCallister
Test audience feedback often seems to hold far too much power when it comes to Hollywood releases. 1999's Deep Blue Sea, which is still one of the very few shark movies that was actually any good, is also one of those uber-rare cases where test audience feedback was beneficial.
Dr. Susan McCallister (Saffron Burrows), an arrogant and hubristic scientist whose experiments created the genetically-engineered super sharks that attack her and her fellow scientists, did originally survive the film, but test audiences hated this. They rightly felt that she was entirely responsible for all of the death and destruction that had taken place, and left feedback encouraging the filmmakers to change the ending. And so, they did.
In the ending that made it to cinemas, Susan meets a fitting end: she is eaten by one of the monsters she herself created, while the far more lovable supporting character of Sherman Dudley (the always delightful LL Cool J) survives in her place, alongside secondary lead Carter Blake (Thomas Jane). This was the best decision they could've made. Thanks to her arrogance, her selfishness, and Burrows' wooden acting, Susan was an egregiously unlikable character, and no-one else in the movie deserved to escape the sharks less than she did.