I read reviews for this film on a few different horror sites, and they apparently love everything about this movie, except for the ending. I read Ebert's review, where he praises the film but twice mentions that the ending sucked. Is there anyone else who hates the ending? I personally thought it was one of the best things about the film.
shareAnyone who dislikes the ending has horrible taste. The ending is incredible, absolutely brilliant. It's a major reason why the movie rules as much as it does. It is one of the greatest endings in movie history, top 10 at least.
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Thanks for posting that workprint ending. Glad they didn't go with that one. The ending they used was perfect!
shareIsn't that pretty much the same ending as in the finished film?
Up until the last few minutes it is, but then it's different. The workprint ending has that generic sounding voice-over talking about the explosion, what it was attributed to (covered up), and where the soil ended up. Then the film abruptly ends.
In the original ending after the explosion you hear the telephone conversation of the army guy talking about the explosion, and saying, "don't worry about the fires, the rain is taking care of that now. Yes I know the president is visiting Louisville tomorrow..." And of course the rain is NOT "taking care" of anything. It is actually soaking many more cemetaires with the chemical that causes the dead to become un-dead, thus, more zombies!!!!
I read on the Uneeda Medical Supply ROTLD fansite that originally (as per the script) the final shot of the film would be the contaminated Louisville soil being shipped via train, thus presumably making more "easter eggs".
shareI think cause people wanted to see a happy ending, I personally loved the ending
"For every *beep* there was once a good man"
I enjoy the theatrical ending a lot more. Steve V.
shareI love the ending. To me if they had some magical potion to kill the dead again or something it would have put a sour taste in my mouth. This just seems so much more realistic of a situation and how the Government would react IMO.
"When you hit somebody with a knife, that's called stabbing." CHOKE
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So I have horrible taste? Well, to be fair, I don't DISLIKE the ending...but since I have read/heard a great deal about the difficulties filming the picture, the compromises involved (which included the ending), etc, AND seeing the workprint/original ending, I'm afraid I have to side with Roger Ebert and others that it is the one weak point of the film.
It feels rushed; like the producers ran out of time and/or money -- and if I'm not mistaken, this was exactly the case.
The message of the ending? Bleak, and cool. No matter what the Army does, they can't just nuke away the sins they have committed in manufacturing this horrible Pandora's box. However, the way it was *executed* just doesn't sit well with me.
To be more specific, the reuse of the "zombie crawl" footage to drive the point home is just a bit of a cheap shot...now, the Colonel's self-congratulatory conversation with the General over the phone, the numbers he quotes ("only (x)thousand dead," etc) and the stock footage are great. I just don't like the blunt use of an earlier shot in the film. IIRC, Dan O'Bannon himself laments the ending for much the same reason.
The original ending would be great in most other zombie flicks. But it completely clashes with the tone of REturn of. It was far too serious. The theatrical ending keeps the tongue in cheek, comical nature of the movie going. It's perfect.
I could see how someome might find it forced. But it still works.
"I just don't like the blunt use of an earlier shot in the film. IIRC, Dan O'Bannon himself laments the ending for much the same reason. "
Eh, seems like a pretty minor flaw in an otherwise incredible conclusion.
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I agree with both your points; I just feel that it could have been perfect but wasn't. But then again, these IMDb threads tend to cause one to over analyze something one would never consider before, so, perhaps I should just remember that I love the movie, warts and all.
shareThe ending was spot on. GREAT. My other fave moment is "I love you, you have to let me eat your brains"
shareYeah, the ending gave you that real "Ohhhhhhhhh sh!t" vibe, considering how the outbreak started in the first place.
"God be with you, Frank."
"Sometimes I'd like to get my hands on God."
I like how your comment was completely written in an objective fashion. Or actually, I don't. I hate it. But it's interesting. Shows a lot about people.
Anyways, I respectfully disagree. Overall taste can't be solely judged upon the like or dislike of a single thing. Besides that, it truly is subjective. I really think you would have to hear them out before completely disregarding their opinion. I think it's completely fair to dislike an ending for being abrupt, though I personally thought it was very fitting. I did not like that they re-used two or so scenes right before it ended, though. That freakin' stunk.
It's a bit salty, but that's all a part of its charm.
My only gripe about the ending goes towards the uneven special effects. The city background was a bit too obviously miniature, drawing too much attention to the relatively small scale of the mushroom cloud.
Ironically, the blast and mushroom cloud may look puny compared to stock footage we've all seen, but it's probably just about right for the sort of low-yield tactical nuke that can be fired as artillery.
My only gripe about the ending goes towards the uneven special effects. The city background was a bit too obviously miniature, drawing too much attention to the relatively small scale of the mushroom cloud.
Ironically, the blast and mushroom cloud may look puny compared to stock footage we've all seen, but it's probably just about right for the sort of low-yield tactical nuke that can be fired as artillery.
I agree that the recycled scenes are an annoying distraction, especially since one of them is that cheesy skeleton emerging and opening its eyes.
Could not agree with you more. No one. As in one saw that coming! Excellent ending.
shareI love the ending, but agree with those who dislike the reuse of previous footage to conclude things. Everything else, particularly the DARK ending (much bleaker than NOTLD) is spot on and really impressive.
shareI prefer the alternative ending which is found on a special edition tape where it's explained all the soil that contains 245 Trioxide has been dug up, and put on train cars and sent out to the middle of nowhere to avoid anymore related illnesses.
share"I personally thought it was one of the best things about the film"
Agree 100%.
I have not read these end hating reviews, but I can't imagine why people would hate the best part of the film.
Ebert's reviews can be taken with a grain of salt. Remember, he gave the incredibly awful Watchmen 4 stars and talked about how he planned to watch it multiple times. So much for his taste in films.
Why do people pick such weird movies to use as evidence of a persons bad taste. Watchmen was good. Ebert has given favorable reviews to plenty of undeniably wretched movies though. Pick one of them next time dumbass.
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LOL, it seems that Watchmen is your English Patient.
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I haven't seen The English Patient, but if you mean my film of choice to rip on, actually, it's Crash.
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Watchmen wasn't that bad, and the ending to ROTLD was a blatant cheapie tack-on. The could have handled it a lot better while getting the same message across.
shareEbert gave both Predator and Die Hard negative reviews so he has no credibility with me.
I loved the ending, it's extremely plausible that the government would do something like that to ensure they shut this outbreak down in one moment. It's also hilariously poetic, the entire film our human heroes have been fighting off monsters only to be killed without thought by other humans lol.
"That fart was so deadly Jack Bauer should have been called to stop it!" -Me
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Actually, Roger Ebert gave Predator (1987) a positive review.
shareIt sounded to me like Ebert's problem was that it ended in a gory zombie-movie cliché.
shareI liked the ending, very apocalyptic. They did repeat a few scenes, but they added more to the effect. It definitely sends a powerful message about how much we trust our government.
"You can't kill the boogeyman!"
- Tommy Doyle
I loved the ending. Reminded me a lot of another favorite movie of mine, Dr. Strangelove.
In fact I would have really loved an ending where the zombies had spread much faster than anyone had thought and one zombie had stumbled upon the launch site and climbed up onto the missile to get at the soldier's brain just as he fired the missile. Then you get a shot of it riding the missile moaning "braaainss!" and maybe even waving a cowboy hat "BraaaainssKABOOM!
I liked it too. It wasn't your typical happy ending. It reminded me of the ending of Night of the Living Dead. The main characters, who had, for the time being, survived the zombie attacks, were killed by their own law enforcement/government. It also showed that the military, who was responsible for handling the trioxin, really didn't know the repercussions of nuking the infected city and releasing the chemical into the rain again.
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I think what they meant by the horrible ending is the fact they didn't shoot any new footage to wrap things up. They simply recycled the cemetery shots with the Eyeball Skeleton popping out of the ground from earlier in the film. What a cheap way to go.
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Yeah I didn't like the reused footage at the end. I didn't like the still framed final shots of the protagonists, however I did like the military scenes. They've just been waiting years to ridiculously over-respond to a mistake they made, only to screw it up worse. Pretty funny.
Yeah, I liked the ending but wholeheartedly agree that the fact that they used the same exact footage from earlier in the movie blew.
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the point of the ending using earlier shots
was to show that it was going to start all over again
When There's No More Room In Hell, The Dead Will Walk The Earth!
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