Jeez !!! WHY ... did they have to ruin the ending ??? :-(((((((((((

by HenryCW (Mon Feb 21 2011 13:12:05)

Several times I wanted to yell at Susan: "Call the police!". After that maintenance guy was electrocuted, Susan already discovered by herself the gas lines leading to OR8. Mark refused to believe in her.

Then later, Susan was attacked in the lecture theater by the hit man, and after using the fire extinguisher on him, she escaped to that room full of bodies. She finally got away by pushing ten or more dead bodies to fall on top of him, but not before he fired one or two shots hitting some dead men. Wasn't it time to call the police to investigate, girl? Instead, all she did was to tell Mark, who of course did not believe her. Some boyfriend! Strangely, the police did not come to investigate either despite the mess she had made.

Then Susan attended the guided tour at the Jefferson Institute as if nothing had happened!! She then did some sleuthing on her own and even overheard them auctioning human organs on the phone. She was discovered, crashed a window, and finally escaped by lying flat on top of an ambulance. All Susan had to do was to call the police and all the evidence would have been there at the Institute. Instead, she approached Dr. Harris and of course got drugged.

(1)"ok this can all be coincidences, but at least when she nearly got herself killed by the man armed with a gun, who followed her through the hospital, she would know that she is in real danger, not only an imagined danger.

So why the hell doesn't she go to the cops?"


I'd say because she still has no proof. Or nothing concrete. She can't prove there was an attempt on her life.
It has been her experience that throughout the story, people haven't believed her. She's lost her best friend and is under a lot of stress - people think she's suffering an emotional breakdown of sorts.

For all she knows, the police may view it the same and be as sceptical.




"(3) When she is to be operated by the evil hospital director, the boyfriend of Dr. Susan Wheeler (Michael Douglas) finally realizes that her life is in danger (when he hears him insisting he needs OP room #8), BUT doesn't try to stop the OP. It's his partner/girlfriend for christ's sake. Instead he runs to find the carbon monoxide bottle which ...

(a) ... he might not be able to find in time (and indeed, it was a close call: remember how she coughed and almost didn't wake up after OP?)
(b) ... he might bot be able to find at all
(c) ... even if found doesn't necessary solve the problem. An evil doctor still has ways to harm or kill your wife on the OP table (some of which might be hard to prove). Would you do the same with your wife ???"


Douglas doesn't fully realize that her life is in danger when he overhears the Dr. insisting on OR8. His suspicion is roused but he can't be certain. If he acts rashly, he probably risks his job, career and whole future by making a serious accusation that could be wrong. Especially against the hospital's main man - the director. Remember, he himself still doesn't fully believe Susan's story at this point.


(a) ...he knows he has to have some proof before he can intervene. He can't justify trying to hijack an operation based on vague suspicions and the possibly delirious paranoia of his recently bereaved partner. He may get on the wrong side of the hospital security if he tries to physically prevent a medical procedure.

(b) ...indeed...he might not find it. It's a desperate situation and he's racing against time if his suspicions are well founded. That's the position he's in.

(c) ...an evil doctor would have a very difficult time trying to kill a patient during a procedure (and making it look natural) while in the company of an experienced team of medical assistants. I think it would be far too risky for him and his actions would be detected.




"(4) Dr. Susan Wheeler repeatedly says NO, she doesn't want to be operated. And unless you are underage or put under tutelage it is a crime if you are forced to an OP. The nurses (who clearly were NOT in the know about the scheme to kill her) should never have proceeded against her will."


Dr. Wheeler is in severe pain, delerious and incoherent. In such cases, I think a decision would be made on her behalf to prevent a life-threatening situation from developing. And since she's staff and it's an internal situation, her colleagues might not approach the scenario as they would with a member of the public as their patient. I think they feel they're acting in her best interests and doing what is right for her. They feel she's unable to give her consent because she's out of her mind with pain.




"• solutions for 1+2:
(A) Susan goes to the cops, but their actions are insufficient for Susan, so she tries to do things on her own
(B) Susan does not go to the cops, but at least the film explains to the viewers WHY she doesn't do so"


These scenes might help but I think that Susan is shown to be a very smart and resourceful character.
She knows she's not got enough to call in the authorities and that the conspiracy is so big, she'd have to have irrefutable evidence of what's happening.
As an audience, I think we're meant to assume this.




"• solutions for 3:
The OP has already begun when Michael Douglas learns about the OP and he is in a part of the hospital which is actually closer to where the bottle is, so he would think that his only chance is to run to the (nearer) bottle and he wouldn't have the time to reach the OP room (farther away). Plus when the OP has already begun, it is difficult to force it being stopped (someone has to finish the OP) and it could lead to a dangerous medical situation if there is a fight or whatever, so that would be in favour of searching the bottle instead."


If the OP had already begun, then Douglas wouldn't have witnessed the incident prior to the procedure that alerted his suspicions. He'd have no reason to suspect anything untoward because he wouldn't have seen the Chief Doctor insisting on OR8.
I suppose you could have him overhear some colleagues gossiping about the Chief Doc being very picky about his OR room just after the op had begun.




The story might be a stretch at times but I don't find too much flaw in the last act as it plays out.











And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

To get the answers to your questions, it's best to remember that the movie is based on a book, and the book answers many of your questions.

Joshua 1:9 ... unashamed.

Every great thriller has a few hiccups in logic and 9 times out of 10, "fixing" these hiccups simply creates more problems -- usually in the pacing.

Such problems are only fatal to a movie if they take you out of the story AS IT IS UNFOLDING. Otherwise they become what Hitchcock called "Icebox moments" -- the kind of flaws that only occur to you hours later, at home, in the middle of the night, when you shuffle into the kitchen for a midnight snack and think, "Wait a minute, why didn't Michael Douglas simply stop the operation?"

These (usually) are flaws a filmmaker can live
with, and, as I said, even the best thrillers have them.

[deleted]