Though not all horror movies are the same, it seems to be a popular trope among them to kill the pets of the people caught in the middle of the story. Sometimes, these pets are even the first to die, their deaths cluing the others in on the fact that something bad is happening. It’s a depressing truth for animal lovers all over who don’t want to see the family pets die, and frankly, it’s become a little predictable.

Luckily, not every horror movie decides to kill off the pets. Sometimes they might still get wrapped up in the plot, or their status might be unknown, but in the end, they turn out to be just fine. If you’re an animal lover who wants to watch horror without going through the death of a pet, or if you’re just looking for something that follows a few less scary movie clichés than usual, here are some great options for you.

8 The Amityville Horror (1979)

Henry the dog from The Amityville Horror in the basement
American International Pictures

The supernatural horror film The Amityville Horror follows a young couple who purchase and move into a home that haunts them in increasingly terrifying ways. Despite their attempts to have the house blessed before they move in, it was unsuccessful. The house had seen many previous horrors, including one of the previous residents killing off his entire family.

Throughout the movie, the hauntings become more and more erratic and intense, bringing danger to the family the longer they stay there. Henry, the family dog, isn’t immune to the haunting either, having found a strange hidden room in the basement that he is then rescued from, letting him survive the story.

7 Mama

the dachshund in the horror movie Mama
Universal Pictures

Mama is another supernatural horror film (directed by Andy Muschietti of IT fame and starring Jessica Chastain), following two orphaned sisters who were found alive after five years of being lost in a cabin in the woods. Their uncle takes them back to live with him, and as they try and let the kids readjust to society, they aren’t taking it very well.

It turns out they were kept alive by an entity in the woods who had become their parental figure and who isn’t happy her kids were taken from her. Despite the malicious intentions of this figure and how often she tries to kill any of the adults involved, their uncle’s dachshund, Handsome, is unharmed, and remains safe at home for the climactic showdown.

6 The Lost Boys

The husky Nanook from The Lost Boys
Warner Bros.

In The Lost Boys, vampires run amuck. Brothers Michael and Sam move with their recently divorced mother to live with their grandfather in a small beach town in California. Infatuated with a girl he saw on the street, Michael tries to win her over and ends up getting involved in the town gang, ignoring the warning signs and finding out they’re turning him into a vampire.

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There’s still a chance to save him, so he and Sam enlist the help of some of the locals to try and kill the head vampire and return Michael to normal. Nanook, their husky, gets between the brothers and initially stops Michael from killing Sam, allowing him a moment of clarity to begin to rectify things. He even gets to kill a vampire later too, becoming a heroic dog while still surviving the plot.

5 Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Chips, a border collie, being lowered off of a building in dawn of the dead
Universal Pictures

Dawn of the Dead is Zack Snyder's remake of the classic Romero zombie movie that involves a very infectious zombie virus and a very clever critique of consumerism. Ana and her husband miss an emergency news bulletin as they’re caught up in a scheduled date night, and the next morning, a zombie breaks in and kills him. Ana barely manages to escape from her reanimated husband and manages to find a couple of other survivors that she joins forces with.

They make shelter in a mall with a few more survivors, but as the zombie threat grows and their position seems to be compromised, tensions rise. Chips is a border collie they find in the parking garage. The zombies pay him no mind, which means that Chips gets to attempt a daring rescue by delivering supplies to a survivor holed up across the parking lot, and survives the attempt too.

4 Gremlins

Barney the dog tangled up and stuck in christmas lights
Warner Bros.

Set around Christmas, Gremlins is a horror comedy that features a small, furry creature called a mogwai. Randall Peltzer is looking for a present for his son, Billy, when he finds the mogwai in an antique store in Chinatown. He’s given three important rules when he buys it: don’t expose it to sunlight, as it will kill it, don’t let it touch water, and don’t feed it after midnight. Naming the creature Gizmo, he is docile and seems to bond with Billy initially, but after someone accidentally spills water onto him, he spawns in more.

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These other creatures are not as nice and begin to wreak havoc on the family and the town they live in. Billy also has a dog, Barney, who unfortunately gets a lot of the initial blame for the chaos the gremlins caused. Even though he isn’t safe from this chaos, he does happily survive this fun but disturbing little holiday movie.

3 Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Jangers and Dale hiding together at the base of some trees
Magnet Releasing

Another comedy horror film, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is all about one rather large, but unfortunate, misunderstanding. Tucker and Dale are two hillbillies who recently bought a rundown lakefront cabin deep in the woods and are beginning renovations on it. At the same time, a group of college kids are camping in the forest nearby, scaring each other with a story about a hillbilly attack in these woods 20 years ago. They become convinced that Tucker and Dale are actually trying to kill them all after a few more accidental run-ins and begin to attack to retrieve a friend that was ‘kidnapped.'

Meanwhile, Tucker and Dale revive the college student who had been knocked out in the water, convinced the kids are in some kind of suicide pact. Dale’s bulldog, Jangers, is taken by the students at one point, and they do threaten to kill him. Fortunately, after Dale pleads for his dog’s life, they manage to save Jangers, and he makes it through the rest of the movie unscathed.

2 The Invisible Man (2020)

Cecelia and the dog Zeus in The Invisible Man
Universal Pictures

This remake of The Invisible Man, originally a book written by H. G. Wells and a classic Claude Rains film, follows Cecilia Kass, who is seemingly stalked by an invisible person she believes to be her dead ex-boyfriend. Cecilia (played by Elisabeth Moss) was trapped in an abusive and controlling relationship with her boyfriend, Adrian Griffin. In order to escape she enlists the help of her sister and drugs Adrian, hiding from him in the home of a childhood friend. Two weeks later, he seemingly takes his own life, but Cecilia begins to suspect there’s another presence in the house after a couple of strange events that tie back to Adrian.

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She begins to believe he’s faked his death and is actually using some kind of technology to become invisible and torment her, something that only intensifies as the movie continues. Adrian’s dog, Zeus, initially almost ruins Cecilia’s escape as he follows her to the garage and sets off the car alarm after she takes his shock collar off. However, at the end of the movie, we watch her happily leave with Zeus, still alive and probably in a better life now too.

1 Silence of the Lambs

Precious the dog looking over a ledge in Silence of the Lambs
Orion Pictures

In The Silence of the Lambs, Clarice Starling is a young FBI trainee who is hunting down serial killer Buffalo Bill. To do so, she enlists the help of imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, hoping to gain his insight as a psychiatrist and serial killer to figure out who Buffalo Bill is and save his latest victim before she too is skinned like the rest of his victims. Hannibal will only help her for something in return, however, so she begins to tell him stories of her past in order for more information, recounting past traumas and discovering why she was really so intent on solving this case in the first place.

Precious, a toy poodle, belongs to Buffalo Bill as his only soft spot. She does get lured into a well with one of his victims, but she doesn’t die, she merely buys the victim just enough time to be rescued. Precious is then seen safely rescued from the well later, still in the arms of the rescued victim.