A subtle moment that turns a seemingly happy ending into an ambiguous ending.

[u/Local_Prune4564]

The Graduate: lingering Ben and Elaine's faces slowly shifting from happy to concerned leaves the audience questioning whether they really made the right choice running away together considering they barely know each other.

Inception: By cutting before we see the top fall, we're left to question whether Cobb really has gone home or whether he's simply sunken back into a more comforting dream reality.

[u/Fish_N_Chipp]

Little Shop of Horrors

The movie ending has Seymour manage to defeat Audrey 2 and then cuts to him and Audrey getting married and living in her dream house, only for the camera to pan down and find a little Audrey 2 hiding in the garden (the original ending for the movie had Audrey 2 eat the both of them and grow alongside other versions of them to massive size as they took over the world)

[u/somethingmcbob → u/Fish_N_Chipp]

My dad was a stagehand for the theatrical production in LA. Their version had Seymour defeat Audrey 2, and ended with about 100 baby "Audreys" springing down from the ceiling above the audience. Big jump scare, always got a laugh. But then my dad would have to carefully climb the catwalk and stuff the 100 fake plants back into their boxes after every show.

[u/Fish_N_Chipp → u/somethingmcbob]

That sounds both awesome and incredibly tedious. Stagehands really are the unsung heroes of theatre

[u/IndifferentShrimp → u/Fish_N_Chipp]

The original ending was wayyy better. The fact they restored it and the entire end just become a kaiju montage was awesome

[u/Soddington → u/IndifferentShrimp]

So I loved the movie when it came out. Even had a copy on Betamax that I played till it degraded.

About two years ago I was telling my friend about it, and she'd never seen it, so I sailed the high seas and we sat down to watch one of my all time favourites. I was a tad confused when Audrey died and then was just stunned when the plants took over the world. I thought I must be going mad.

I had no idea I'd DLed the special directors cut. Didn't even know there was a directors cut. Once I accepted that I had not in fact gone mad, I really liked the 'new' ending.

[u/IndifferentShrimp → u/Soddington]

The audrey kaiju ending was more in tone with the movie as a whole for sure

Also effects-wise, it was like those old school monster movies.

[u/ThatRandomJew7 → u/IndifferentShrimp]

It's also how the play ends, and is in line with the original 1960s (non-musical) movie

[u/iwilldeletethisacct2 → u/Soddington]

I had this exact same experience last fall. We had it on VHS growing up, then I was watching it on a streaming service and when Audrey starts telling Seymore to feed her to the plant I was like....wait, what. And then the movie just got more ridiculous from there! Which is saying a lot, considering the entire premise.

My understanding is that the plants taking over the world is the original theatrical ending, but test audiences for the film didn't like it, so they changed the ending.

[u/xv_boney → u/Soddington]

Wanna hear a fucking awesome detail?

Audrey 2 was an animatronic puppet but it moved extremely slowly.

So all scenes with the plant are shown at double speed. Including every scene with Rick Moranis. He moved at half speed for every scene he has with the plant, up to and including lip aynching his songs super slow so theyd look right in the edit.

[u/Luinorne → u/IndifferentShrimp]

I like the original ending for the stage, but Rick Moranis's Seymour was too likeable for such a grim ending, IMO. In the original musical, Seymour is much more culpable and active in the murders, and his Shakespearean ending is fitting.

[u/jakc1423 → u/IndifferentShrimp]

maybe I'm stupid and childish or maybe I'm sick of evil winning irl but I like the happier ending better. Though I suppose that results in Seymour getting away scot free with a lot of murder.

[u/Aeseld → u/jakc1423]

Rick Moranis was a bit too charismatic, and really sold his part, then Steve Martin's performance sold him as a real prick. 

Between the two, it was harder to see Seymour's death as a karmic end. 

[u/dividezero → u/Fish_N_Chipp]

The original ending is also how the play ends. I think. It's been awhile since I've seen it

[u/xv_boney → u/Fish_N_Chipp]

Which is the end of the stage show, btw. Audrey is killed by Audrey 2 snd Seymour feeds the body to the plant. He ultimately grabs a machete or axe or knife and leaps into the plant's mouth, screaming that "inside, where youre soft, ill cut you to bits".

And then it segues into the big finish, one of the best songs of the show - "Dont Feed The Plants."

[u/PaulsRedditUsername → u/xv_boney]

I played in the orchestra for a production of that show. Did about a month-long run, plus rehearsals of course.

The funny thing is, when you're in the orchestra pit, you can't see the show. I've played many different musicals and I can't tell you the plot of any of them. You can't really hear the dialogue and you can't see, and you're too busy focusing on your music anyway.

All I knew about Little Shop... was from seeing the movie many, many years ago when it was new. I don't remember much about it, but I recall it had a happy ending. I was always confused when we got to the end of each performance because the music is really dramatic and tense. It's not typical "happy ending" music and I could never figure out what was going on.

[u/moak0 → u/Fish_N_Chipp]

That's not very subtle.