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Originally Posted by Toy Soldier
Well, substance / alcohol misuse and childhood abuse and trauma are pretty obvious themes of both the film and book, surely? The book IMO (and a made for TV adaptation I've seen) actually handle it far better than the Hollywood movie though. In the movie version the dad is a blatantly "scary", unstable, from nning maniac from the outset and throughout. In the book and the more subtle adaptation - more realistically to real life - depict the inconsistencies in the relationship (sometimes he's a great, loving father... Then, at unpredictable times, an abuser). He's a tormented and conflicted character and also, in the end, he gains some clarity and sacrifices himself for his family (unlike the film where he dies still a "monster" trying to murder them).
If anything, the movie ruins a part of the underlying themes by going for "Hollywood shock horror" in the final act.
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Agree, the ending of the movie really disappointed me having read the book before I saw it.