20 Horror Movie Endings We Almost Got
10. Birds On The Golden Gate Bridge - The Birds
Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds ends in a highly unconventional manner for both a Hitchcock film and a horror movie released in the 1960s, given that it eschews the expected resolution entirely.
Rather than have Mitch (Rod Taylor), Lydia (Jessica Tandy), and company find a way to triumph over the murderous birds, all they're able to do is flee Bogeda Bay while the birds are in no way dealt with, their violent behaviour is never explained, and it remains to be seen what will become of humanity.
Yet Hitchcock's original ending went even further hammering in the hopelessness, as when the Brenners complete their drive to San Francisco, we were supposed to see birds covering the Golden Gate Bridge.
As for why this was never shot? In the 1960s, without the advanced effects techniques of today, it was considered a practical nightmare to find a way to execute the shot of the bird-covered bridge, and so Hitchcock went for this more subdued, arguably creepier denouement.