Which ending is your favorite and why? + Ending from original script

As a big fan of this underrated thriller, i was always curious to see and hear people's reactions and opinions on all the different endings that it has, so i'm asking any fans of the film here the same question. Of course, spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the film or any of the endings;

Original "Jaws" ending where truck is blown up in the cornfield,

Theatrical ending where Rusty Nail lives,

Alternate ending in which Rusty is killed by Lewis in the fight behind motel,

Alternate ending in which Rusty is killed by Venna who shoots him with the shotgun

Alternate and never actually filmed ending in which Rusty fights with Lewis in the motel room where Venna is after he tries to kill him by crashing into him with truck and during the fight cops break into the room and Rusty gets killed by his own shotgun. This is the one ending that is made with footage from previous two and storyboards in the special features.

In my opinion, original ending where Rusty gets blown up in his truck in the cornfield is the best and one which they really should have kept. Every time i show the film to someone and show them original ending immediately after they also agree that it was much better.

And like i mentioned in title, here's interesting bit of info i got for fans and everyone else who liked the film. Original script (or at least the very first draft that was written) also had different ending. Here's the short version;


After Rusty Nail's "suicide" (also used in original ending of the movie), Venna is angry at Lewis and blames him for what happened to Charlotte. After some time, he and Fuller get back to their family and Fuller and their dad make a peace with each other.

One night while Fuller is at home Lewis takes his mother's car and goes to Venna's house to try and apologize for everything. But she still doesn't wants to talk to him so he leaves, and as she is taking a shower, Fuller gets a call from police and they tell him that they figured out that man who killed himself is not Rusty Nail.

At that same time, Rusty appears at Venna's house and talks to her in very demented way. While they are talking, Lewis returns and screams at her through the door how he loves her. But then he is attacked by Rusty who hits him in shoulder with tire iron and kidnaps Venna. By that time Fuller has taken his father's car and also arrives at Venna's house only to find wounded Lewis calling the police, and he also tells him what happened. Fuller then goes back to the car and drives after Rusty, who has put Venna in back of some other truck he stole and killed two real owners of it and also put their bodies in the back. Fuller manages to get ahead of Rusty and then crashes into his truck in order to stop him. Venna also manages to get free and when Rusty gets out of the now crashed truck and opens the trailer, she hits him with some pipe (i think) and escapes. In the meantime Lewis has heard the crash outside and although severely wounded he manages to get over there and sees Fuller, who is also very badly hurt, in the wreck of the car.

Rusty is chasing Venna on foot and during the chase Lewis appears, driving a truck (i'm not sure is it the same as Rusty stole or did Lewis found and stole some other one) and crashes into Rusty, who still manages to hang on the front of it and tries to grab Lewis. But Lewis then crashes the truck into the radio shack sending Rusty flying into the wall. But Rusty is still alive and Lewis then crashes into him again, killing him for sure. This ending ends with coroner cutting the fingers from Rusty's hands (like he said they do to people that they can't identify earlier in the script/film) and Venna, Lewis (arm still in bandages) and Fuller (both legs in casts) as only people on the funeral for him, watching as he is put into the ground.


Sounds like yet another ending which is better than the one they decided to use, if you ask me. I still can't believe that (from what i heard) test audiences and studio hated the one ending that they did originally filmed and demanded a new one.