Hero and the Terror(1988)

POOPER:
Danny finds Moon’s hideout at the movie theater and they get into a fight, which takes them to the rooftop. Danny throws Moon through a skylight, and he falls into the theater below, killing him instantly. Danny then goes to the hospital Kay is at, and sees a priest in the elevator. They go into her room, and before anyone can say anything, she says “I do”.

LONG VERSION:
Los Angeles Police Detective Danny O’Brien (Chuck Norris) is attempting to capture the notorious serial killer Simon Moon (Jack O’Halloran), a.k.a. The Terror. Moon has killed 22 women by breaking their neck and then takes them back to his hideout under the boardwalk of an amusement park. Danny tracks down Moon on a beach near the park, and is nearly killed when they get into a fight. As Moon is getting away, the ladder he is climbing breaks and he falls, knocking himself out. The rest of the police arrive and think Danny single-handedly captured Moon. Because of this, everyone begins to call Danny “Hero”, a nickname he hates. While Moon is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital, Danny spends several months in therapy due to the near-death experience. During that time, Danny fell in love with his therapist Kay (Brynn Thayer), and she is now pregnant with his child. Despite being convinced to move in with him, Kay doesn’t want to get married.

Three years after he was captured, Moon is still at the mental hospital, but he is planning an escape. He successfully cuts through the bars of his cell and steals a van. But after he smashes through the gates, he drives the van off of a cliff, and everyone thinks he is now dead, even though his body was never found. Months later, a famous Hollywood actress is found dead at a movie theater that hosted a world premiere the night before. Her cause of death, a broken neck, leads Danny to conclude that Moon is still alive and killing again. This feeling is reinforced after he learns that another woman who works at the theater disappeared the same night as the murder. After seeing that Moon isn’t back at his old hideout under the boardwalk, Danny thinks that Moon is now hiding out at the theater. The media is reporting that the actress’s death is due to The Terror, but the mayor wants Danny to speak to them and say that the killer isn’t Moon to prevent a citywide panic. He reluctantly agrees, but only on the condition that his partner Detective Bill Robinson (Steve James) stakes out the theater in case he’s right about it being Moon’s hideout.

That night, Kay goes into labor and gives birth to their daughter Angela. At the same time, Bill runs into Moon at the theater, and he is killed by The Terror. On his way home, Danny tries to check in with Bill, and that’s when he learns about his partner’s death. Now convinced Moon is hiding out there, Danny and several cops do a top to bottom search of the theater, but they come up empty. Back at the police station, Danny is going over old blueprints of the theater when he discovers an attic space that no one knew about, and he figures that must be where Moon is hiding. After going to the hospital and telling Kay he loves her, Danny goes back to the theater and decides to go after Moon before backup can get there. He goes to that attic space and finds the body of the missing theater worker, as well as several other dead bodies. Danny then gets attacked by Moon, and they once again get into a fight. The fight takes them to the rooftop, where Danny is able to throw Moon through the skylight, and he falls into the theater below, killing him instantly. The next morning, Danny returns to the hospital to take Kay and Angela home, where he sees a priest in the same elevator car. The movie ends with Danny and the priest entering Kay’s room, and before anyone can say anything, she says “I do”.