Horror fans and critics alike agree that Don't Breathe was one of the best horror movies in recent years. Not only was it something fresh for horror nerds everywhere to dig their teeth into, but it was also something that was immensely suspenseful and terrifying. What fans don't know, however, is that the box office hit almost had an entirely different ending... something much darker.
As you may recall the original film ends with our hero(?) Rocky heading off to California with her little sister in hopes of starting a better life. While promoting the home video release of the flick, a couple journalists sat down with director Fede Alvarez, screenwriter Rodo Sayagues, and producer Sam Raimi.
During the interview, they shelled out some details on the original (and wickedly twisted) ending they had in mind.
Sayagues noted, "the original script, it had a bleaker ending. She ended up in the cellar. In the original script actually there was a trap down in the floor, but we were like, 'Wait a second. We can't do Evil Dead and then a trap door. One in each movie.' We changed it to put a door in the wall. So the trap door she would walk by it and then a hand would come out and grab her leg and drag her in. By the time the police shows up, they never find her because that part of the cellar was more concealed. It's inside of the wall. It's actually under the next door's house - it's a tunnel that connected with the other house that's abandoned next door and that's the cellar he was using."
Holy shit balls! That sounds pretty depressing. And given the news of a sequel... that would have changed everything.
Now they didn't say when exactly the script changed, but Sayagues did mention why they chose to go a different route. Said Sayagues,
"Then we changed that. Originally he could hide her better. We felt, even in the original script and even the original cut, the first cut of the movie, she came across... she was more ambitious, she was manipulating. She was manipulating the rest of the characters more to get what she wanted. In the storytelling myth, she kind of deserved to win. It was really depressing. It was one of those, like, 'Oh, fuck, really? After all of this and then she ends up there?' She was pregnant and she was this ladybug... it was depressing."
At the end of the day, I am really glad that they decided to go a different route with the ending. Even though Rocky was not a hero in a traditional sense, I still really was rooting for her in the end. I hope that in the sequel we get to see her return as a true hero.
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