20 Horror Movie Endings We Almost Got

Paranormal Activity ends with a possessed Katie (Katie Featherston) killing her partner Micah (Micah Sloat), throwing his corpse across their bedroom, and then lunging towards the camera, before a title card reveals that her whereabouts are unknown.

But the film originally had a much smarter and more unnerving ending - albeit one which placed a ceiling on any franchise potential.

In this ending, Katie also kills Micah, after which a friend discovers the carnage and calls the cops. The police arrive to find a catatonic Katie holding the knife, just as she snaps out of her possessed state.

At this moment the attic door violently slams on its own - clearly caused by the demon - spooking one of the cops and causing him to accidentally discharge his gun, killing Katie. The End.

This is such a brilliantly cruel ending, the demon playing one last trick on Katie, but considering it would've required a sequel to focus on entirely new characters, it's also easy to see why Paramount insisted on re-shooting a more conventionally sequel-baiting final scene.