1987 Psychological Thriller's Ending Ranks Among the Best Ever-But the Original Was Even More Disturbing
Few movie endings put audiences on the edge of their seats like the final scene in the 1987 movie Fatal Attraction, which starred Glenn Close and Michael Douglas. While the psychological thriller's ending ranks among the very best, you may be surprised to learn that the original Fatal Attraction ending in the script was even more disturbing.
In their ranking of the "10 Best Psychological Thriller Movie Endings," CBR ranked Fatal Attraction's final scene as No. 6. The ending beats out the ones from several other wild thrillers over the decades, including Cape Fear (1991) with Robert DeNiro, Donnie Darko (2001) with Jake Gyllenhaal, and The Invisible Man (2020) with Elisabeth Moss, among others.
Viewers can't seem to get magnitude of this film out of their heads. Fatal Attraction was also ranked No. 4 in Collider's recent "10 Most Intense Movies of the 1980s" list.
Article warning: This story contains sensitive content, including references to self-harm, that may be difficult for some readers. Please read with care.
In the Fatal Attraction ending you know (spoilers ahead if you don't!), Alex Forrest (Close) becomes completely unhinged after Dan Gallagher (Douglas), the married man she had an affair with cuts off contact with her. In the ultimate act of revenge, Alex heads to Dan's to take it out murderously on his wife, Beth Gallagher (Anne Archer) by charging her with a knife in the bathroom. Dan saves the day and drowns Alex in the family bathtub, which is terrible EXCEPT ... she isn't really dead, and [JUMP SCARE] she shoots up out of the water. Beth then shoots her dead. It's quite an awful scene all around.
In the original ending, however, instead of a bloody bathroom battle, homicide detectives arrive and inform Dan that Alex is dead-her throat cut by a 9-inch kitchen knife, a knife Dan flashes back to definitely touching at her house. He panics realizing Alex is framing him for her murder, the detectives haul him in for questioning, and Beth is left to pick up the pieces. Luckily, she finds a cassette tape Alex recorded for Dan, on which Alex greatly details her emotional turmoil and admits, "I'll kill myself, I will..." Beth rushes off to take the tape to the cops, presumably to clear Dan's name. Cut to Alex in her own bathroom listening to Madama Butterfly opera, that kitchen knife against her neck before we fade to black. Oof.
In an interview with The New York Times, Close says the original script also included an earlier scene of "Alex at the opera alone, watching Butterfly kill herself." Close explains, "That was never filmed. I'm sure it was a financial consideration. But without that scene, the ending didn't have the resonance it would have."
Turns out, test audiences loved Fatal Attraction until the ending where Alex dies by suicide. Douglas told the NYT, "The audience viscerally wanted to kill Alex, not allow her to kill herself."
But Close admits, "I loved the original ending. I always felt Alex was more suicidal than psychotic." She says she fought against reshooting a new ending for two weeks. "It was going to make a character I loved into a murdering psychopath."
Of course, the original ending with its death by suicide and possible framing of Dan for murder has an even darker psychological tone than ultimate self-defense finale where beloved Beth gets a more justified last say in what happens. I mean, if "crazy ex-lover" Alex comes at you with a knife, you gotta defend yourself, right? But what does it say if Alex turns to self-harm instead, particularly about Dan's part in it. It makes Alex's obsession with Dan and mental state all the more unsettling and hard to swallow. This changes the moral implications quite a bit.
Fatal Attraction was released on September 16, 1987, and became a box office sensation, earning $156.6 million at the box office in the U.S., as well as $163.4 million internationally.
Watch the original Fatal Attraction ending that was filmed but never made it to theaters:
This is the complete Original ending to 1987 FATAL ATTRACTION
— Hollywood Horror Museum (@horrormuseum) February 21, 2026
It only played in test screenings, and audiences hated it because it's much darker, sinister, but also more realistic to the character.
Glenn Close and Michael Douglas were extremely upset the studio didn't use it. pic.twitter.com/JAr3VZX1Or
Watch the official Fatal Attraction trailer:
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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 5:03 PM.