10 Best Horror Movies In Which No One Dies

More than any other movie genre, horror is known for having a high body count. This obviously makes sense, since horror is very invested in forcing viewers to counter the specter of death and all that that entails. However, there are a number of horror movies that eschew the tendency to kill off a lot of characters.

As a result, they deflect the terror death into other aspects, and as strange as it might seem, these horror movies are just as scary as those that feature death more prominently.

Eraserhead (1977)

One of the most well-respected directors in Hollywood, David Lynch has directed many great movies. One of them is Eraserhead, which is a hard film to summarize, precisely because it emphasizes sound and visual imagery over a coherent story.

Eraserhead displays many of the thematic issues that would arise in other movies in Lynch’s career and, despite the fact that no one really dies during the film, it still maintains its disturbing power.

The Amityville Horror (1979)

The Amityville Horror has become synonymous with the haunted house movie. While some elements of the 1979 film haven’t aged especially well — some of its dialogue can be quite clunky — it still succeeds because the actors take the entire affair very seriously.

As a result, The Amityville Horror captures the sense of encroaching dread that snatches up the character as they realize just how much they have taken on by moving into this particular house, with all of its haunted history. Remarkably, however, no one dies during the course of the movie.

Flatliners (1990)

The 1990s were a notable decade for horror movies, and there were several that asked the bigger questions about human nature and the experience of the afterlife. In the case of Flatliners, the plot revolves around a group of scientists who push themselves to the border of death before coming back to life. Unfortunately, they soon find that this repeated process has its price.

Despite its death-focused premise, all of the characters manage to survive, though none emerge from this whole experience entirely unscathed.

Poltergeist (1982)

Poltergeist is widely regarded as one of the best horror movies of the 1980s, and it is one of many that uses the concept of a house being built on a former cemetery. In this case, the central family is terrorized by supernatural occurrences that invade their seemingly serene suburban home.

Even though it has been imitated and spoofed many different times in the years since, Poltergeist is a movie that still retains its ability to chill the blood, evoking the sense that even one’s home, supposedly the most secure place in the world, can be the site of horror. Despite its ominous tone, none of the characters die during the course of the movie.

Freaks (1932)

Freaks is widely regarded among horror aficionados, and with good reason. As its title suggests, it takes place in a traveling “freak show,” but it soon becomes clear that it’s actually the “normal” people who are the truly monstrous individuals.

The movie is notable for a number of reasons, particularly for casting people who were actually part of sideshows and had disabilities. While no one dies, there are several people who are brutally punished for their cruelty.

The Babadook (2014)

The 2010s was something of a golden age for horror movies, and one of the most notable was The Babadook, which focuses on a mother and her son who are haunted by the sinister being of the title. It is a movie that relies less on bloodshed than it does on a brooding sense of menace, especially since the Babadook is one of the scariest creatures to have ever appeared in a horror movie.

Given how frightening it is, it’s all the more remarkable that no one ends up perishing.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project is notable for being one of the most successful found footage horror movies, and its success helped to spawn an entire set of imitators. With its emphasis on “realism,” it quickly immerses the viewer in its own sinister world, in which a group of amateur documentarians set out to find more information about the Blair Witch.

As menacing and unsettling as it is, however, what is most striking about the movie is that, so far as the viewer knows, no one actually dies during it (even though the fates of the characters are left unknown).

The Conjuring (2013)

The Conjuring is another movie franchise that has achieved quite a remarkable degree of success. In the original movie, a family is terrorized by supernatural forces that refuse to leave them alone. Despite the fact that no one dies during the course of the movie, it nevertheless manages to frighten the viewer.

In large part, this stems from its dialed-down town and from the powerful performances of both Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, which allows the viewer to care for their plight.

Signs (2002)

M. Night Shyamalan became famous for his twist endings after The Sixth Sense. Signs is no exception in this regard, since the ultimate reveal is that the sinister aliens that are the movie’s primary antagonists are afraid of water.

As is always the case with the director, he fills the movie with a brooding sense of apprehension, so that the viewer is always left on the edge of their seat, wondering just what is going to happen next. The answer? Everyone lives.

The Others (2001)

Nicole Kidman has been in many great movies, and The Others is one of her finest. On the surface, it seems to be about a mother and her children who are terrorized by a group of ghosts; in reality, however, it turns out that they are the ghosts.

It’s a deeply atmospheric movie, and it immerses the viewer in the troubled mental space of its main characters. The final twist is one of the best in a horror movie, and it forces the viewer to re-evaluate everything that they have just seen and heard.

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