MovieChat Forums > Thinner (1996) Discussion > Surprised original ending tested badly

Surprised original ending tested badly


Billy was a reprehensible character from the start. I’m surprised test audiences didn’t want him getting his “just desserts”, so to speak.

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I don't recall the original ending. What was it?

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After he sees that his daughter has eaten and will die too, he just decides to eat the pie then and there. He doesn't give any to the Doctor.

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Maybe it was too obvious for a Stephen King story? Ppl love a good twist ?

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wtf Billy was a terrific guy put in an impossible situation: he said having the gypsies in town was fun, he loved his daughter, he treated his wife fine in the beginning, he told his creepy boss that he was being a misogynist, he felt slightly guilty in the courtroom which shows a conscience even when he wasn't really guilty of anything, he refused to take the gun to confront the old gypsie, he stopped his friend from murdering the young female gypsie and the list goes on and on... so then this super guy's wife cheats on him and conspires with her new doctor boyfriend to have him mentally committed, of course audiences are going to side with good ol' Billy, he's a goddam hero!

Comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable

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Nope

He was a guy who got in a *beep* situation

He was a good husband and father. Even when the pos gypsies were killing him he was trying to NOT let his mob boss friend kill them.

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As a lawyer he was pretty unscrupulous. He might have treated his family well, but he was pretty flawed.

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The doctor "friend" was a creep too, so audiences still got their "just desserts" ending (and a pretty amusing one, too).

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It's not the first SK ending completely changed for a movie. Sometimes it's a major change like in Cujo (in the book the kid died and the mom was showing rabies symptoms) or a smaller detail like in Firestarter (in the book they went to Rolling Stone, not the New York Times).

Or they totally change everything and we get crap like Under the Dome on TV.

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Don't forget the book ending to the Mist was different than the movie ending. Btw, why not put spoilers in your reply next time.

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