Hate it when they change the ending!

Rating: 5/10 (26 April 2011)

I recently read the novel so I thought I'd take a chance and watch the film. IMDb gave it a decent rating as did Netflix. The movie moved along nicely, with suspense about this mist, the quirky neighbor, the father-son relationship, etc. When the entities in the mist started doing their thing, I found that very well done. Little by little the director revealed what the poor people were dealing with. And when they ventured into the drug store next door, wow, now that was scary. Everything was moving along nicely, with the crazy church lady taking control over the group slowly but surely.
But then, poof, the ending fell flat. Spoiler alert. Why why why did the director change the ending? In the novel, as I recall, no one committed suicide. There was the faint hope of heading towards Hartford because of something the father heard on the radio. But in the movie. 4 people commit suicide, including the father killing his own son? How does the director justify this, when all these people had done for the entire movie was fight for themselves, then at the end, they stop? They kill themselves 5 minutes after running out of gas? Didn't make sense. The ending sucked. The ending spoiled the whole movie for me. The ending destroyed all hope you had, when that was NOT the intent at all in the novel. Hence, my 5/10.
I hate it when they change the ending!