Warning: The following contains spoilers for Terrifier 3.
Sometimes, the death scenes are the best parts of a horror movie. The horror genre is home to some ofthe bloodiest, goriest, most shocking deaths in movie history. For many fans, it’s the kills that stand out the most and linger in their minds long after the credits roll. Truly, the most compelling horror films have the most remarkable death scenes, but sometimes, the best and most striking kills are the ones that no one saw coming.
Throughout the decades,several death scenes have been featured in some horror movies that were just shockingly unexpected. These sequences shook audiences to the core and thrilled them with their sudden and unpredictable nature. Some of these deaths are still startling today and are often the most anticipated parts of their respective films.These are the ten most unexpected death scenes in horror movies, which have been selected for their importance to their respective movies and their ability to shock and provoke audiences.
10Jonathan Shaw (Elliott Fullam)
‘Terrifier 3’ (2024)
Damien Leone’s third entry in the popularTerrifierfranchise,Terrifier 3, is shaping up to be the best installmentyet. With a new story, a bigger budget, and exceptionally more gore, this grizzly threequel has audiences squirming in their seats with its many new disgusting kills. While all the deaths are pretty remarkable, one that noticeably stands out is the shocking end to Terrifier 2’s survivor, Jonathan Shaw (Elliott Fullam), the brother of the final girl, Sienna (Lauren LaVera).
In the film’s bloody finale, after Sienna is confronted and tied up by Art (David Howard Thorton) and his demonically possessed accomplice, Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi), the two sadistic killers reveal to their nemesis that they’ve brutally murdered Jonathan and now keep his skull as a prop to torment her. Though it was expected that the film would go bolder, it didn’t seem likely Leone would kill off one of the major characters from the last movie, especially in such a punch-in-the-gut fashion. Jonathan’s death comes asa total surprise as it is entirely off-screen, and all audiences are left with the disturbing aftermath.
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9Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell)
‘Pitch Black’ (2000)
Pitch Blackis the first entry in thecriminally underrated Riddick franchise, starring the one and onlyVin Dieselas the rouge antihero Richard B. Riddick. It follows the titular criminal as he reluctantly teams up with a spaceship pilot, Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), to help lead a group of survivors to safety after their transport vessel crash-lands on a hostile desert world, home to bloodthirsty, nocturnal monsters.
The final battle sees Riddick in a desperate fight against some creatures to give Fry and the remaining survivors a chance to make it to their escape shuttle. Though she has the option to leave him behind and save herself, Fry instead heroically risks her life to rescue Riddick and bring him back. But although she is successful, at the last second, she is impaled and grabbed by one of the aliens just moments away from safety. Fry’s death issudden and comes entirely out of left field, to the point where it feels unearned. It didn’t seem likely she would be killed this close to the end credits, especially after committing such a noble act to save others.
Pitch Black
8Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp)
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors’ (1987)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriorsisone of the better installmentsof theA Nightmare on Elm Streetfranchise. It features the glorious return of the first film’s final girl, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), as she once again faces her dread tormentor Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), this time, with the help of a group of mentally gifted teens who can hurt Freddy in their dreams.
Though Nancy eventually succumbs to her wounds, with her dying strength, she at least goes out dying while helping her friends defeat Freddy for the time being.
After being noticeably absent from the predecessor, it seemed Nancy’s return inDream Warriorsmeant she was back to lead theElm Streetfranchise in the future. But, to audiences' surprise, this film is instead the end of her story arc asFreddy stabs her with his finger knives in the climax. Though Nancy eventually succumbs to her wounds, with her dying strength, she at least goes out dying while helping her friends defeat Freddy for the time being. Watching Kristen (Patricia Arquette) cradle Nancy as she passes away is a heartwrenching moment that not many Freddy fans would have expected, especially for such a beloved main character this early in the series.
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7Sarah Carter (Shauna Macdonald)
‘The Descent: Part 2’ (2009)
Neil Marshall’sThe Descentwas an intense, claustrophobic nightmare film that was terrifying from start to finish.The Descent’s bleak and disturbing endingdidn’t seem like it truly warranted a sequel, but it still happened. Four years later, audiences were treated toThe Descent: Part 2, a mostly forgettable follow-up that, while not terrible, didn’t really feel necessary.
The main character of both films was Sarah Carter (Shauna Macdonald), a determined final girl who experienced and committed some truly awful things in her quest to escape from a cave full of flesh-hungry monsters. After barely surviving the events of the first film, she unfortunately meets her end in the sequel after sacrificing herself to the creatures to let another survivor, Rios (Krysten Cummings), escape with her life. It’s a complete shock to see Sarah, who transitioned into a badass survivor, die so close to the end. She had been through so much at this point that it seemedshe had earned a chance to walk off into the sunset.
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6Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy)
‘Scream 2’ (1997)
It can’t go wrong to watch theScreamfilms now and again. One of the most revered slasher franchises in horror history, it boasts many iconic moments and even a few memorable deaths. While there’s a whole list, few are as shocking and unexpected as the controversial killing-off of beloved fan-favorite character Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) fromScream 2.
During the film’s midpoint, poor Randy meets his end when he receives a phone call from the killer claiming to be nearby. When he stands next to a parked news van, Randy doesn’t react in time as he’s pulled in by Ghostface and stabbed multiple times.Scream 2is one of the darker entriesof the franchise, highlighted by shocking moments like this. Randy’s demise wasthe standout death of the film, especially because of how it hit fans hard since he was such a popular character whose understanding of the horror genre promised to keep him alive in such a self-referential story.
5Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer)
‘Final Destination’ (2000)
TheFinal Destinationfranchise is full of unique and unexpected developments. Each film follows an unlucky group of survivors as they escape a harrowing disaster, only to have the Grim Reaper himself come to reclaim their souls through terrible accidents. While each film has the embodiment of Death killing people in creative and unpredictable ways, it is Terry Chaney’s (Amanda Detmer) sudden demise from the first movie that stands out as the one nobody ever saw coming.
Poor Terry is suddenly taken by Death after she unwisely steps onto a road after leaving a heated conversation with her friends about moving on with their lives after surviving the Flight 180 crash. As she angrily tells her boyfriend Carter (Kerr Smith) to “drop dead,” she proceeds to do the exact thing, being violently slammed by a speeding bus that came straight out of nowhere.This brutal demise happened so suddenly and with almost no warning. It was so brutal that it has yet to be surpassed in terms of sheer shock value, even when theFinal Destinationfranchise has delivered no shortage of elaborate and startling deaths.
Final Destination
4Charlie Graham (Milly Shapiro)
‘Hereditary’ (2018)
Ari Aster’sHereditaryremains one of the most unsettling horror films in recent memory. With a slow-burning mystery and shocking tension, it still leaves viewers on edge no matter how often they watch it. While it’s full of shock and terror, undoubtedly, the most stunning move was brutally killing off one of its main characters, Charlie Graham (Milly Shapiro), in the first act.
Charlie was heavily featured in the film’s marketingand trailers. It first appeared she might have a decent amount of screen time, but she was abruptly killed in a shocking car accident not even an hour in.Her death cast an enormous shadowfelt throughout the rest of the story, becoming the catalyst for far more disturbing moments that plagued the rest of the characters down the line. It didn’t seem likely at first that, because of her age and overall importance to the story, the filmmakers would boldly kill her off. Alas, in horror,being a child doesn’t always guarantee safety.
Hereditary
3Ben (Duane Jones)
The lateGeorge A. Romero’s black-and-white zombie horror masterpieceNight of the Living Deadis still sure to leave viewers stunned by its shocking violence and gory kills. It centers around the story of Ben (Duane Jones), a resourceful de facto leader who takes command of a group of frightened survivors as they hold out in a farmhouse while a terrifying zombie outbreak ravages the countryside.
The audience follows Ben as he makes tough decisions and does everything he can to survive. By the end, he is the only one who makes it through the night after the zombie assault on the farmhouse. It seems his troubles are finally over, as a rescue posse has arrived to clear out the dead. But, at the last possible second, he is mistaken for a zombie by one of the posse members and swiftly executed before he can even communicate with them.It’s a heartwrenching death that feels exceptionally crueljust because of how quick and abrupt it is. To see Ben survive many dangers only to be killed by accident is something not a lot of people could have predicted. Painful and frustrating, it remainsone of the most bleak endings in movie history.
Night of the Living Dead
2Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore)
‘Scream’ (1996)
Though Randy’s death inScream 2was surprising, it still doesn’t compare to how shocking and totally unexpected Casey Becker’s (Drew Barrymore) demise was in the first movie. DirectorWes Cravenmade horror history in this originalScreamfilm, creating aniconic and intense opening scenethat killed off its first leading lady.
Like Charlie fromHereditary,Casey Becker was heavily marketed duringScream’s promotion. She was, after all, played by Drew Barrymore, Hollywood royalty since childhood who was experiencing something of a rebirth regarding her career; even her face was prominent on the film’s posters.Having Casey brutally killedalongside her boyfriend Steve(Kevin Patrick Walls) in the opening scene was a brilliant twist as it helped define the franchise and show the viewers that this was a new slasher movie, unlike anything they had ever seen before.
1Marion Crane (Janet Leigh)
‘Psycho’ (1960)
Marion Crane’s (Janet Leigh) shocking death during the infamous shower sequence fromPsychois a memorable and terrifying scene that has become cemented in pop culture.Sir Alfred Hitcock’s masterpiece was a brilliant chiller that has endured through the years because of this highly talked about and memorable moment.
The first half ofPsychobrilliantly lures audiences into a false sense thatthe story is entirely about Marionand her criminal plot to run off with her boss’s money. However, it switches gears in the second when she stumbles upon the sinister Bates Motel and meets her iconic fate at the hands of the terrifying killer Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Back then, it seemed unheard of that a film would kill off its apparent lead actress before the second act, especially with one so recognizable as Janet Leigh. Although most people today are already familiar with the iconic scene,Marion’s death remains one of the most classic and unexpected demises horrorand a masterclass on how to subvert audience expectations.
