Interesting - I was under the impression that the movie ended the same as the book. Apparently it is even more depressing huh?
It is EXTREMELY depressing. The story, I felt, always gave a little glimmer of hope at the end, but this one - well, without giving anything away, there is a scene in this movie - that mercifully takes place off screen (so to speak -they're in a car) that I could have gone the whole holiday season WITHOUT seeing.
It doesn't work for a lot of reasons. Number one, it totally destroys the end of the original novella, which was very good on its own (edit) - I always felt the original left a little hope at the end, even though you knew there might not be any (end edit). Secondly, the male lead actor just doesn't have the chops to carry this film, in my opinion. When the script requires him to carry a huge emotional load (the ending), he just can't get the job done and it feels forced. Thirdly, the director obviously was trying to take this opportunity to make some sort of point about politics, religion, politics & religion, or something, and FAILED miserably....because by the time the scene above has played out, you just want to run out of the theater. At least I did.
Those of you who have read about it on Wikipedia, or have actually seen the movie KNOW what I'm talking about. It's not even horror at that point - it's just some hack director trying to disturb his audience as much as possible....and in that they got the job done, no doubt about it.