If you had the power to simultaneously change everyone's copy of this movie to have a completely different ending, what would you do? You can also change other events in the film, but if you do, try to tie them back to how it affects your ending.
shareSimple, two points, really. First, when the killer's face is revealed, I had no idea who I was looking at, so a more identifiable photo might have helped the audience realize who the killer actually was. Second, when the video editor realizes the killer is walking in with his video camera and she turns to hit him and knocks the camera out of his hand, the entire murder could have been captured by the camera now lying on the floor, rather than switching to third person pov and totally ruining the immedicacy and flow. Cut out all the third person scenes and just cut to him once again in first person taping himself in the barrens. Simply lowering the camera between takes would allow the audience to see the wrapped body on the ground. Then the basic premise of the movie along with the murder would have been uniform and the shock value more effective.
If really necessary, along with really dumb, a few different scenarios involving an actual Jersey Devil stealing the body and killing the filmmaker would then make this movie really his last broadcast...
Revenge is a dish that best goes stale.
I actually realized it was David in the video 'before' I should have.
The mystery wasn't really there.
And when I realized it, I was like "WTF?!" There was no real surprise, only puzzlement. Why would they make THAT guy the killer?!
What were his motives? If he didn't want to be caught, why did he send the video to the video lady to begin with? Why did he film the killing???
This movie fell apart in its last 1/4, which is a real shame because it chilled me big time up until then!
But to answer the OP's question: I would definitely change the killer.
I would make it the actual Jersey Devil! Or at least, as someone else mentioned, make the killer mysterious.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
David was the Jersey Devil
shareEnding 1: The face that appears in the recovered film is a distorted devil like face that isn't quite human, end of film
Ending 2: The extra found footage shows that Jim was actually the Jersey Devil. His mystery death in the cell is just the devil leaving that particular body for the time being...