Death is the scariest event that a person can possibly face. It is this fear of death, the potential for the non-existent, the irrevocable, and the irreversible that lies in the shadows behind the frailty of human existence, piercing into both the psyche and the human condition as an intrinsic part of the human experience.
But while death is a reality for all, it is also something that has been examined by storytellers since the coming of time as a way to unravel and unlock its mystery, that by somehow facing death down, looking at it through a mirrored reflection of narrative, the power that it has over humanity would either lose its luster or at least be understood.
Consequently, death as an element of storytelling often helps to ensure that the stakes are high. This is especially utilized and seen in horror movies as characters are usually targeted, even terrorized, and their circumstances drift into dire straits that could very well mean the end of them.
However, there are horror movies that are completely absent of death but still deliver on all the emotionalism and wonder that portends the understanding of mortality and what is finite without crossing the line. These movies often do away with the sometimes cheap threatrics and thrills of murder and mayhem to reach into the depths and recesses of what it means to be human at the brink of being a thing of non-existence.
And while these movies have chosen to take away the "highest of stakes," they offer a different level of fear, drawing on the idea of daemonic dread and the sublimity of the unknown like a predator stalking; terror, torment, and even torture, take on a palpable and tangible reality, soliciting fretful and frightening moments for movie-goers as each one watches with bated breath the characters's journey through the halls of horror.
Arguably, death is almost expected to be a part of any horror film and most are on the edge of their seat in anticipation of when that's going to happen and to whom. It is this precipice that steadily pushes the movie-goer and crescendos in heart-pounding torment even when no death actually takes place in the movie. These horror movies capture the essence and potential of fear in a way that others do not. Here are some of the horror movies where no one dies.
10 1408 (2017)
1408 is based on a Stephen King short story of the same name and is about an author who investigates haunted houses and other potentially paranormal living spaces as a profession in order to debunk the existence of anything otherworldly. But when John Cusack's character, Mike Enslin, takes on a fabled room, the titular 1408, in the infamous Dolphin Hotel, the skeptical author faces unrelenting terror and ends up experiencing unexplainable events that causes him to question his sanity and everything around him. No one dies in this horror movie, but the duress and the distress that the main character undergoes, along with the barrage of warnings from supporting characters such as Samuel L. Jackson's character, Gerald Olin, increases the stakes and makes this horror movie terrifying to watch.
9 Amityville Horror (2005)
Amityville Horror is based on real events which inspired the novel by Jason Anson in 1977, the original version of the film in 1979, and a host of other films in the horror franchise. However, in this remake of the 1979 film of the same name, a married couple moves to a countryside home where dark occurrences begin to happen. Ryan Reynold's character, George Lutz, is the most afflicted by the events as his behavior becomes more and more deranged as the movie goes on, subsequently, putting his family in jeopardy. While there are no deaths in the film, Amityville Horror is full of jumps and frightening imagery.
8 The Babadook (2014)
Director and screenwriter, Jennifer Kent attempts to explore parenting in the throes of fear and potential madness. The Babadook is her directorial debut and in the horror film, a children's book of a similar name titled, "Mister Babadook", manifests a dark presence in the home of a single mother and her child, causing an intense paranoia that plays out over the course of this horror movie. A catalyst for the events of the film happens prior to the start of the movie with the death of the husband/father and this leads to the struggle of the mother raising a child alone. The film itself can be seen as a metaphor, a figurative discourse of grief and depression being explored.
7 Signs (2002)
Signs is an M. Night Shyamalan movie that is as much about mysterious crop circles and the wondrous yet frightening exploration of their meaning as it is about faith and the recovery of family togetherness. Through the Hess family, particularly Graham Hess, a widow, farmer, and former minister, the search for purpose is found in an eerie build-up to a first encounter of the alien kind. No one in this horror movie dies, but the ominous build-up is tantalizing, edge of the seat kind of stuff, and the all-star cast led by Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix, deliver a powerful message about fortitude and finding purpose even the darkest of times.
6 Poltergeist (1982)
Poltergeist is a supernatural horror movie that has become a classic and the "template" for movies about haunted houses. This horror movie centers around an ordinary family whose house is haunted by restless and evil spirits. Over the course of the film, these spirits reveal themselves in startling ways while also becoming increasingly more violent. As the family attempts to figure out what's happening, the ghosts unleash their malvolent intentions by latching on to the youngest child in the family, tormenting the child and threatening the family. Ultimately, no one dies in this horor movie but the machinations of the evils spirits and how they go about terrorizing everyone is frightening enough.
5 Flatliners (1990)
Five brilliant medical students push their limits and break boundaries to seek answers about the afterlife in this stunning sci-fi horror film with psychological thriller overtones. However, experimenting with near death experiences causes dark consequences as tragedies from each of their pasts rise to the surface to haunt them. Flatliners explores what people fear the most - death - and doesn't offer any resolve. Rather, it is the internal darkness in conjunction to the abyss beyond that threatens each character, ultimately awakening them to the importance of the moment rather than what's to come next.
4 Pi (1998)
The pursuit of knowledge can be a lonely road, but it can also be one that's filled with peril and danger. In Pi, a paranoid mathematician searches for the number that can unlock universal designs and patterns. Unemployed and already suffering from migraines, hallucinations, and a personality disorder, Max Cohen's quest turns into an obsession that involves mysticism, religion, the relationship between numbers and nature, and the juxtaposition of the fragility and greatness of the human mind as a construct, especially under duress. The title of the film refers to the mathematic constant of pi. Again, like the others, there are no deaths in the movie, only the exegesis of mental degradation.
3 Stir of Echoes (1999)
Stir of Echoes is a supernatural horror that is also a psychological thriller. In the movie, Kevin Bacon portrays Tom Witzky, a man who one night allows his sister-in-law to hypnotize him. However, after being hypnotized, Tom suddenly starts to see the ghost of a young girl and the visions of this specter increasingly haunts him. Despite there being no dying in this horror movie, Stir of Echoes stares into the nebula of secrecy and what's hidden as Kevin Bacon's character attempts to unravel and unlock the mystery of why the girl is haunting him.
2 The Others (2001)
The Others released in theaters shortly after M. Night Shyamalan's Sixth Sense and was immediately compared to it for its slow-burn psychological build-up, a pace that eerily crept and moved the viewer along in the story in a cold embrace of chilling moments, ultimately to reveal a big secret at the end. The story centers around a mother, portrayed by Nicole Kidman, who lives in a longtime family home that she keeps darkened because of her photosensitive children. However, noises, odd incremental events, and the arrival of mysterious strangers causes her to believe that the home is haunted. No characters die in this movie, but the horror of the true reality of what's happening is what puts the nail in the coffin for this one.
1 The Conjuring (2013)
Released in the summer of 2013, The Conjuring was instantly praised for its conception, performances, direction, screenplay, and overall atmosphere and mood. The movie is based on real life reports that also inspired Amityville Horror and its franchise. However, this story revolves around the Warrens, who are a husband and wife team that investigates potential supernatural occurrences. When the Warrens are called to the home of another family, the Perrons, to investigate disturbing events that's been taking place in their house, a battle against dark forces takes place as the Warrens, with the help of clergy, attempt to rid the family of what is haunting them.