# Are there horror films where nobody dies? (Open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950 "2008-10-28T15:33:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/21 "2008-10-28T16:07:39Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Doesn’t the Bruce Willis character count as a death? We see him get shot but we assume he’s alive, and then it turns out he was dead all along. And doesn’t the crazy patient who shoots Willis rather gruesomely blow his own head off? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/22 "2008-10-28T16:10:08Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > And doesn’t the crazy patient who shoots Willis rather gruesomely blow his own head off? Oh yeah, he does. Forgot about him. **Annie X-Mas** , I think you are right about the Stepford Wives–it all taking place “behind the pages.” Haven’t seen any of the movies, though, so can only comment on the book. Was rather creepy, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/23 "2008-10-28T16:14:22Z")
_Being John Malkovich_ - if, like me, you consider it a horror film. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/24 "2008-10-28T16:21:04Z")
Does it count if the supernatural being was once a person? Like a person getting turned into a werewolf or vampire and then dying? Not that I can think of any examples where only vampires/werewolves/etc. died… ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/25 "2008-10-28T16:22:47Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Being John Malkovich - if, like me, you consider it a horror film. Both John Malkovich and the little girl dies, or at least their consciousnesses (same thing really). ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/26 "2008-10-28T16:27:52Z")
_Requiem for a Dream_ _Jacob’s Ladder_ (sorta) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/27 "2008-10-28T16:41:44Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Both John Malkovich and the little girl dies, or at least their consciousnesses (same thing really). That’s what makes it a horror film - but strictly speaking, it’s possession, not death. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/28 "2008-10-28T16:44:15Z")
I suspect that the only reason Scatman Crothers’ character dies in Stanley Kubrick’s version of **The Shining** is that they realized that nobody had actually died. (The character does NOT die in the book). And, of course, Jack dies at the end, in both the book and the movie(s). **The Creature from the Black Lagoon** – IIRC, the only thing that actually dies is The Creature itself. You might argue that it’s science fiction, but the film is promoted as a horror film, and makes little sense as SF. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/29 "2008-10-28T16:50:04Z")
I’m not sure if it will past the smell test, but no one actually dies in _The Blair Witch Project_. There are disappearances and one guy waiting for something evil to happen (the guy standing in the corner at the end) and a camera operator silenced in some way or another … but no actual deaths. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/30 "2008-10-28T16:54:47Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > Does anyone die in _Flatliners_? It was sort of a cheezy movie, but I thought it was pretty scary. Kiefer Sutherland does his damnedest, but they end up bringing him back in the end. They show the kid Kiefer picked on as a boy dying, and then boy-Kiefer dies in his place. But it’s surprisingly mortality free for a movie about a glorified suicide club. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/31 "2008-10-28T16:55:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I suspect that the only reason Scatman Crothers’ character dies in Stanley Kubrick’s version of **The Shining** is that they realized that nobody had actually died. (The character does NOT die in the book). And, of course, Jack dies at the end, in both the book and the movie(s). > > **The Creature from the Black Lagoon** – IIRC, the only thing that actually dies is The Creature itself. You might argue that it’s science fiction, but the film is promoted as a horror film, and makes little sense as SF. This is wrong, several of the native workers are killed by the creature. Also, there may be one or more die fighting it. Have to watch that again soon. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/32 "2008-10-28T16:56:17Z")
> [@davidw](#): > > Were there any deaths in\*\* Poltergeist\*\*? Don’t the spirits pull the real estate developer dude into the collapsing house with them at the end? EDIT: Did a quick Google and several sites claim it has a body count of zero. Unless you count the bird. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/33 "2008-10-28T16:59:24Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > That’s what makes it a horror film - but strictly speaking, it’s possession, not death. I recall that the movie makes it pretty clear that after a certain point the “possession” is irreversible and the original consciousness is lost forever i.e. death. > [@Jack Batty](#): > > I’m not sure if it will past the smell test, but no one actually dies in The Blair Witch Project. It’s heavily implied that they all died. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/34 "2008-10-28T17:03:47Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > _Requiem for a Dream_ What? How is that a horror film? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/35 "2008-10-28T17:22:49Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > And doesn’t the crazy patient who shoots Willis rather gruesomely blow his own head off? He does, but not gruesomely. The camera pans past him as he puts the gun to his head, and you hear the gunshot as soon as he’s off camera, but you don’t see any blood or anything. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/36 "2008-10-28T17:30:38Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Scooby Doo is not horror. You are sooo wrong. I’ve _seen_ the Scooby Doo movie. The horror! The horror! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/37 "2008-10-28T17:37:44Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > EDIT: Did a quick Google and several sites claim it has a body count of zero. > > Unless you count the bird. And the actual cast. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/38 "2008-10-28T17:41:24Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Both John Malkovich and the little girl dies, or at least their consciousnesses (same thing really). If you’re talking about the little girl in the pool, she’s fine at least until she turns 44. Craig is trapped in her subconscious, unable to do anything. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/39 "2008-10-28T17:42:43Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > And the actual cast. ☹ There’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950/40 "2008-10-28T17:47:05Z")
Came in here to mention The Others. Oh well. But yes, I can confirm that there are no deaths during the runtime of the film. Several deaths which took place before the beginning of the movie are later described, but never shown. The closest thing is the pictures of the dead servants. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-horror-films-where-nobody-dies-open-spoilers/469950.md?page=3)