This article contains discussions of graphic horror movie violence.
With the Halloween franchise supposedly ending with the upcoming installment, Halloween Ends, fans are anxious to see what awaits Laurie Strode. If Michael Myers finally slays her, it’ll easily go down as one of the most tragic and mourned death in slasher movie history.
While movie fans generally enjoy slasher flicks for the creative on-screen kills, there have been plenty of deaths in slasher history that have upset audiences. That’s usually because the victim was a likable and engaging character, or because the circumstances of their demise were so tragic. That’s certainly the case for these Redditors, who’ve taken to discussing which death in a slasher movie hit them the hardest.
Mike – The Strangers: Prey At Night (2018)
Genuine interactions between characters can be hard to find in slasher flicks, but The Strangers: Prey at Night delivered a moment between father and son that left Redditors emotional. Mike is a father whose family is being stalked by a trio of masked killers and gets incapacitated after crashing his car.
With no other option, he tells his son to take his gun and protect the rest of their family. It’s a beautifully acted scene that makes the characters seem so much more human than typical cannon fodder in slasher movies. And his ultimate demise is all the more heart-wrenching, as Reddit user kaZdleifekaW describes: “The Man in Suit arrives, and as he takes his time to kill the father, the father begs the Man to leave his children alone and let them live.”
Josh – Hostel (2004)
Everyone at some point has gone somewhere they shouldn’t, or to a place that they don’t fully understand. For Josh, though, a backpacker through Eastern Europe in Eli Roth’s Hostel, he pays the price in an unimaginably horrific way. That’s why Reddit users such as Sunnykick2 pick him, simply writing “Josh in Hostel.”
While Josh displays some foolish and disrespectful behavior, that only makes him seem more like a real kid that’s naively visiting dangerous places in the lure of an exotic adventure. And he’s so clearly in over his head that it’s hard not to pity him right away. To make matters even worse, he becomes a victim to some of the most sadistic and twisted villains that the 2000s had to offer, making his fate all the harder to watch.
Taryn – A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987)
One of the major themes throughout the Nightmare on Elm Street films is that of America’s youth left to fend for themselves, and Freddy Krueger represented the traumas and psychic hardships that the younger generation constantly has to battle, sometimes to the indifference of adults.
This was personified by Taryn who had a heroin addiction and was sent off to a psychiatric facility, only to find herself as one of Freddy Krueger’s victims. As Reddit user skilledgiallocop writes, “I always thought how Taryn bites it in Dream Warriors was pretty sad and depressing.” Unlike other 80s slashers, the Nightmare flicks weren’t afraid to take on dark and upsetting subject matters that teenagers were dealing with. So fans thought Taryn’s death after being injected by a series of used needles, was particularly heartbreaking.
Casey Becker – Scream (1995)
It’s interesting how hard Casey Becker’s death hits for fans, despite the fact that the audience knows very little about her. But that’s why the casting of Drew Barrymore was so genius, as it made the character instantly likable. It was also just hard to believe that they would kill off Drew Barrymore in the opening of the film, and in a particularly macabre fashion.
That’s why Reddit users like tpwpjun20 choose her, writing “casey becker in scream.” It’s certainly hard to think of a slasher death that was more shocking or one that the audience was less prepared for. It was so effectively devastating that many of the Scream sequels have tried to carry on the tradition of killing off the bigger stars early on.
Lumpy – Halloween (2018)
Most victims in slasher movies are hapless teens or stubborn adults, but rarely do they have the audacity to kill a child on-screen. But David Gordon Green and company did so in their legacy sequel to Halloween, providing one of the film’s most chilling moments and proving that, even Michael Myers had gotten older, he hadn’t gotten any less vicious or inhuman.
As Reddit user glugolly writes, Lumpy’s death “Seemed like a deviation from the normal Kill The NonVirgins and Troublemakers deal.” Lumpy is easily one of the most innocent victims of the Halloween franchise, and the fact that he had the bravery to grab a gun and go looking for his father made his death sting even more for viewers.
Chase Porter – New Nightmare (1994)
This death isn’t so devastating because of “who” the victim is, but for the ripple effect it has on the rest of the characters. Chase Porter is the fictional husband of real Nightmare on Elm Street star, Heather Langenkamp, who becomes the first victim of a demon that is manifesting in the real world as the notorious boogeyman, Freddy Krueger.
Langenkamp sells the grief of Chase’s death, which casts a dark shadow over her and her young son, Dylan. That’s why Reddit users like kaZdleifekaW chose Chase, writing “The death itself isn’t that sad, but the effect it has on both Heather and Dylan is.” It raises the personal stakes like few other movie kills do and the fact that Heather Langenkamp is playing herself adds a layer of reality that makes the tragedy more grounded and immediate.
Annie Brackett – Halloween II (2009)
While Rob Zombie’s filmmaking is known for his primarily hardcore grindhouse aesthetic and profane dialogue, his Halloween remakes are surprisingly emotional affairs. Not only does it turn Michael Myers into the product of a broken home, but they study the psychological ramifications of The Shape’s murderous rampage as the gore and brutality.
And that’s why fans were so taken aback by how traumatic and devastating Annie Brackett’s death was in Halloween II. As Reddit user kaZdleifekaW writes, “I can’t be the only one who gets a bit sad when Annie’s death comes around.” It’s not just because actress Danielle Harris is beloved by Halloween fans. Zombie used all his cinematic resources to turn Annie’s death into not just a kill to add to body count, but a horrific and earth-shattering loss to everyone around her. No final girl seems as affected by a kill than when Laurie Strode discovers Annie’s body.
Randy Meeks – Scream 2 (1997)
Another Wes Craven mention, this was undeniably of the most painful and distressing deaths that slasher fans witnessed. Scream 2 had the guts to kill off Randy, a fan-favorite character that personified the franchise’s famous meta sense of humor, only halfway through the second entry. And Ghostface certainly didn’t hold back on this death either, as Randy gets it worse than anybody.
While this was an effectively distressing kill that the audience didn’t see coming, some fans question whether it was truly necessary. Reddit user StipeTapped writes “Randy’s death was pretty sad too and overall a bad decision imo.” It seems that the filmmakers of the Scream films missed the character, and even found a way to give him a cameo in Scream 3. While fans might be upset to see Randy exit so soon, that’s a true testament to how popular and well-executed the character was in the first place.