Image via A24
Published May 23, 2026, 8:47 AM EDT
Shawn Van Horn is a Senior Author for Collider. He's watched way too many slasher movies over the decades, which makes him an aficionado on all things Halloween and Friday the 13th. Don't ask him to choose between Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees because he can't do it. He grew up in the 90s, when Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and TGIF were his life, and still watches them religiously to this day. Larry David is his spirit animal. His love for entertainment spreads to the written word as well. He has written two novels and is neck deep in the querying trenches. He is also a short story maker upper and poet with a dozen publishing credits to his name. He lives in small town Ohio, where he likes to watch professional wrestling and movies.
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Most movies go for the feel-good ending. Comedies are meant to make us laugh until the end. Dramas often see protagonists make up. Thrillers and action movies have the good guy conquer the evil villain. Horror is different. While the genre has its share of happy endings, where the final girl slays the killer or the monster is defeated, it's also the one that can get away with terrifying endings. Here, the antagonists are either victorious or the hero is so damaged that there is no true victory for them. Movies like Rosemary's Baby, Night of the Living Dead, Midsommar, and Smile knew how to scare the viewer through the very last second, but these 10 horror movies did it better than any other.
10 'Speak No Evil' (2022)
Image via Nordisk FilmChristian Tafdrup's See No Evil is a highly uncomfortable chiller. The Dutch film focuses on a family vacationing in Italy who meet another family and quickly befriend. What starts out as fun quickly becomes something more sinister when the latter family begins acting more and more strange, causing the form to doubt what they're seeing until it's much too late to escape.
The 2024 American reboot went for the happy ending. No thanks. The original gets it right by going as dark as possible. Agnes (Liva Forsberg) has her tongue cut out and is taken. There is nothing Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) can do, as Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) tells them they were chosen simply because they let him. If only they'd run away immediately, they would have survived. Instead, the couple is stoned to death.
9 'The Mist' (2007)
Image via Dimension FilmsFrank Darabont has adapted several Stephen King stories for film but nothing tops the emotional wallop he created with The Mist. The film stars Thomas Jane and a whole host of future stars of The Walking Dead, who are attacked by interdimensional monsters when a fog descends over their small town.
King's novella had a hopeful ending. Darabont wanted nothing to do with that. In the final scene, David (Jane) and several others, including his own young son, Billy (Nathan Gamble), flee in a vehicle that runs out of gas. With the monsters closing in, the group decides to end their lives on their own terms. David shoots and kills everyone off-screen. Out of bullets, he steps out, begging for the monsters to take him. It's then that the military drives by. Hope was so close. If only they'd held on for a few more minutes.
8 'Martyrs' (2008)
Image via Wild BunchPascal Laugier's French horror film, Martyrs, is an exercise in extreme violence pushing against what audiences can bare. When Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï) was a child, she was abused by a group of people, and now she's out for revenge with her friend, Anna (Morjana Alaoui). What they discover is something more sickening than they could ever have imagined.
Martyrs has a dark and ambiguous ending. Anna has been captured and tortured nearly to death by a mysterious cult who believes their victims can get so close that they see the afterlife. With her skin ripped from her flesh and death near, Anna whispers to the cult leader what she sees. The viewer doesn't hear her words, but whatever they are causes her to shoot herself in the head.
7 'Hereditary' (2018)
Image via A24Ari Aster's debut film, Hereditary, may still be his best. A stacked cast includes Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, and Alex Wolff. They are part of the Graham family, and Annie's (Collette) strange mother has just passed away, unleashing a series of bizarre events surrounding a cult. The most shocking scene involves Charlie (Milly Shaprio), who is decapitated out of nowhere. It's not the only moment that sticks with you though, because the finale is a wild nightmare.
The final scenes see Annie possessed and sawing off her own head, which leads to her son, Peter (Wolff), jumping out of the window. This is not his freeing moment. Instead, the next time we see Peter, who was very much dead, he's alive again in the treehouse, the demon Paimon inside him as the cult worships their leader.
6 'Sinister' (2012)
Image via Summit EntertainmentSinister is regarded as one of the scariest modern horror movies. Directed by Scott Derrickson and co-written with C. Robert Cargill, their story centers on Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke), a true crime writer, who moves into a new home with his family. In the attic he finds a projector and reels which show the murders of several families. As he discovers that a demon named Bughuul is behind the killings, Oswalt tragically finds his own family marked for terror.
It's revealed that the murders were all committed and filmed by children under Bughuul's control. In the final scene, Ellison's young daughter, Ashley (Clare Foley), drugs and ties up her family. Now possessed by the demon, she slaughters them with an axe and is taken by Bughuul. There is no happy ending for anyone.
5 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' (1974)
Image via Bryanston Distributing CompanyIn 1974, Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre helped launch the slasher fad. It's so much more than a killer in a mask movie though. Instead, it's a deeply political story about the lengths a family will go to when new technology takes their jobs. Marily Burns stars as Sally Hardesty, a young woman driving across Texas with her friends when they decide to enter the wrong house. Inside waits the chainsaw wielding Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) and his wild family of cannibals.
The third act is a non-step frenzy of violence. With only Sally left alive, the family ties her up, ready to make her their next meal. She's able to escape, smashing face first through a window and running down the driveway in the breaking Texas dawn as Leatherface and the Hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) close in. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ends with the Hitchhiker dead and Sally saved by a truck driver. However, even though she escapes, her wails of fear, as a frustrated Leatherface swings his saw, reveal that this final girl will never be okay again.
4 'Halloween' (1978)
Image via Compass International Pictures/Aquarius ReleasingJohn Carpenter's Halloween changed horror forever with a simple premise that has been copied off. The suburban nightmare begins with young Michael Myers killing his sister in 1963. Fifteen years later, he escapes from a psychiatric hospital, puts on a shapeless white mask, and looks to recreate his crime by stalking babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends. Many of them won't live through the night.
Halloween set the template for slashers to come. After a slow burn build, Carpenter lets the Boogeyman loose in the last act. When Laurie goes across the street to check on her friends, the Shape is waiting. From one house to the next, Michael Myers teases the prey who he could kill at any moment if he wanted to. In the end, with help from Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasance), Michael is seemingly taken down, only for the final shots revealing where he's been as the Shape's breathing fills our ears. Evil can't be defeated.
3 'The Vanishing' (1988)
Image via Argos FilmsGeorge Sluzier's The Vanishing is one of the most bleak and unnerving movies you'll ever see. The story begins with two young lovers, Rex (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia (Johanna ter Steege), who are vacationing in France when Saskia goes missing. Years later, Saskia has never been found, but then Rex begins receiving startling messages from Raymond (Bernanrd-Pierre Donnadieu), the man who took her and now wants to terrorize who she left behind.
This is again a case where the American reboot delivers a happy ending. The original does not. Raymond wants Rex to experience what Saskia did in her last moments. Desperate to know the truth, Rex gives in, so he agrees to drink coffee laced with drugs. When Rex comes to, he's been buried alive in a coffin with no chance of escape. He will die here, slowly suffocating, while Raymond is free to kill again.
2 'Don’t Look Now' (1973)
Image via ParamountNicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now gets a lot of attention because of the decades-old rumors that stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie actually did the deed during their sex scene. They didn't, and there is so much more to this film than that curiosity. Don't Look Now is a slow-burn mystery nightmare with Sutherland and Christie as John and Lura Baxter. After the drowning death of their daughter, the couple goes to Italy for work and to try to forget what happened. While there, a serial killer strikes.
In several scenes, John sees a short person in a red hooded coat, similar to the way his daughter was dressed when she died. Has she found a way to return to him? Needing to know, John follows the hooded figure in the final moments. Cornered, and with nowhere to go, the stranger turns around. It's not John's daughter. Instead, it's the killer, an elderly little person with crazed eyes who slashes John to death.
1 'The Blair Witch Project' (1999)
Image via Artisan Entertainment.The Blair Witch Project had the greatest marketing campaign in movie history. Directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez had audiences convinced that the found footage they were seeing was actually real. It's a simple premise for the terror, with college filmmakers Heather (Heather Donahue), Josh (Joshua Leonard), and Mike (Michael C. Williams) going into the Maryland woods in search of a legendary witch. They quickly become lost before something unseen stalks them through the trees.
In the final scene, Josh has disappeared and now screams from somewhere out in the darkness. A terrified Heather and Mike go looking and come upon a dilapidated house. Alone in the basement, Mike's camera is knocked down by the unknown. In the final shots, a screaming Heather runs down the steps. There stands a motionless Mike in the corner, just like Rustin Parr used to do with the kids he killed. An unknown force then knocks Heather's camera away, silencing her. The audience never sees the witch or finds out what exactly happened. The fear is in the unknown.
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you're not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →
01
Something feels wrong. You can't explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
ALeave immediately. I don't need to understand a threat to respect it. BStay quiet and observe. If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it. CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel safe again. DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the dark — I'd rather know what I'm dealing with. ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think — and smaller.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
ASomewhere remote — a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people. BA quiet suburban neighbourhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight. CIn my own head — the most dangerous place of all, depending on what's already in there. DWherever children are — because something about this place attracts the worst things. ESomewhere ordinary — a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you'd expect is a threat.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn't account for. What's yours?
APhysical fitness — I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence. BSpatial awareness — I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out. CPsychological resilience — I've faced my worst fears before. They don't have the same power over me. DEmotional steadiness — I don't panic. Panic is what gets you caught. EScepticism — I don't underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
AThe unstoppable — something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer. BThe invisible — a threat I can feel but can't locate, watching from somewhere I can't see. CThe psychological — something that uses my own mind and memories against me. DThe unknowable — something ancient, shapeless, that feeds on the fear itself. EThe mundane — a threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it's too late.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
You're with a group when things start going wrong. What's your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn't.
AThe one who says "we need to leave" first — and means it, even when no one listens. BThe one who stays quiet, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does. CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in — because someone has to. DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask — because ignoring them gets people killed. EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What's the horror movie mistake you're most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
AGoing back for someone — I know I shouldn't, but I can't leave them behind. BAssuming I'm safe once I've found a hiding spot. That's when it finds me. CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy. DLetting my curiosity override my instincts — I always need to understand what I'm dealing with. EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That's exactly what it wants.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
What's your best weapon against something that can't be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
AThe environment itself — I use the terrain, the water, the geography against it. BPatience — I wait, I watch, and I strike at the one moment it doesn't expect. CLucidity — if I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its primary weapon. DCourage — facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on. EImprovisation — I use whatever's at hand, however unconventional. Creativity over brute force.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
It's the final scene. You're the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What's yours?
AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me. BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did — and I used it against the thing following it. CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most. DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed. EI took it seriously from the start — and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it.
REVEAL MY VILLAIN →
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
- He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn't strategise, doesn't adapt, doesn't outsmart. He simply pursues.
- Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
- The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
- You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it's too late for anyone who isn't paying close enough attention.
- But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
- Michael's power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
- Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
- You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
- You are harder to destabilise than most. You've faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven't looked away.
- The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
- Freddy's greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
- Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
- The Losers Club didn't survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
- You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
- That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise's worst nightmare.
- It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chucky
Chucky's greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it's already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
- You don't have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
- Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
- Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
- Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
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