By Mo Moshaty

If horror has a universal truth, it’s that some people are just doomed from the start. Maybe it’s a case of wrong place, wrong time. Maybe they trusted the wrong person, or maybe they simply committed the unforgivable sin of minding their own damn business in a horror movie. Some went looking for love and found an axe. Some took a fun vacation and ended up steak tartare, and some learned the hard way that even with you think you’ve won, you’ve lost…. your life. Whether it’s bad luck, bad decisions, or just a horror villain with a twisted sense of humor, fate never had any intention of letting these poor souls walk away unscathed. No luck o’ the Irish for them, just front row seats to some of the worst horror movie deaths imaginable.

Unlucky #13: KAREN DAVIS, The Grudge Franchise – Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar) really just wanted to do her job, but instead of a nice, quiet social gig in Tokyo, she walked straight into some ghostly bullshit. Sent to care for an elderly woman and what turned out to be the most cursed house on the planet, Karen stumbles into Kayako’s vengeful death loop, because apparently in horror just showing up is enough to get you killed. Unlike a lot of horror victims, Karen doesn’t make dumb choices or ignore obvious red flags. She’s just wildly unlucky. She barely escapes the first movie with her life, so she does what any rational person would do: she tries to burn the whole nightmare to the ground But bad news, haunted real estate doesn’t go up in flames that easily. By The Grudge 2 (2006) she’s still alive for all of about five minutes before getting gaslit and a hospital (big surprise: the medical gaslighting of women) and then yeeted off a rooftop by Kayako. Her biggest mistake? Thinking she could outrun a curse that never lets anyone go.

Unlucky #12: MARCIE STANLER, Friday the 13th (1980) – Marcie (Jeannine Taylor) is just out here trying to have some summer fun and flirting at Camp Crystal Lake, blissfully unaware that she signed up for a murder mystery weekend where the only mystery is who dies next. She’s a fun, capable, and seemingly level headed camper, which in any other scenario would be great, but in a slasher film, it just means she’s got a bigger target on her back. Her bad luck really kicks in when she makes the fatal mistake of…needing to use the bathroom. That’s right, Marcie doesn’t go looking for trouble, she just answers nature’s call only to run headlong into an axe to the face. One moment she’s casually checking the showers, the next, she’s getting a ticket to the afterlife courtesy of Pamela Voorhees. Spoiler. No dramatic chase scene, no Final Girl showdown, just an unlucky trip to the can that ends in her becoming a campfire story. If there’s a lesson in horror it’s this: just hold it till morning.

Unlucky #11: Tatum Riley, Scream (1996) – Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) is the ultimate 90s horror best friend. She’s witty, confident, and way too cool to take a masked killer seriously. She spends most of Scream being effortlessly charming and sarcastic, not to mention stylish, which should have been enough to grant her Final Girl immunity, but the horror gods had other plans. Her bad luck really sets in when she heads to the garage for more beer, only to find herself face to face with Ghostface. At first, she thinks it’s all a joke. After all, this is a killer who likes to play on horror tropes, and Tatum is fluent in slasher sarcasm. But when the knife comes out, so does the reality check. Trapped with nowhere to go, she makes the totally reasonable decision to escape through the garage’s pet door. Unfortunately that door was not designed for grown humans. And before she could wiggle her Delia’s skirt free, Ghostface presses the button. What follows is one of the most absurdly unlucky horror deaths. Tatum, stuck and helpless, gets hoisted up and crushed in an automatic garage door. It’s a death that’s darkly comedic as it is brutal. If she had literally chosen any other exit, she might have had a fighting chance. Instead, she ends up one of the most as the most unfortunate victim of the 90s. She had to know that horror movie survival is all about an exit strategy.

Unlucky #10: Bernadette Walsh, Candyman (1992) – Bernadette Walsh (Kasi Lemmons) is the textbook definition of “that one friend who knew better but still got dragged into nonsense”. She’s smart, skeptical, and most importantly, not looking to summon any murderous urban legends. Unfortunately, her best friend Helen is the walking embodiment of bad horror movie choices. And Bernadette being the loyal and supportive bestie that she is, goes along for the ride, even though every fiber in her being is screaming “this is a rotten idea!”. From the start, Bernadette is that friend, the one dropping hints, giving bombastic side eyes, and very clearly not on board with this whole “let’s poke around a known supernatural ‘murder site’ plan”. But does Helen listen? Of course not. White girl curiosity is at an all-time high in this film and Helen is determined to prove the Candyman is just a myth. Bernadette, against her better judgment, follows along, probably because she doesn’t want her best friend to get murdered alone. And what does she get for being a good friend? A brutal death at the hands and hook of Candyman himself. While Helen, the true chaos agent of this story, gets to play protagonist and spiral into supernatural madness, Bernadette’s reward for being cautious is becoming collateral damage. The worst part? She didn’t even say his name five times! She wasn’t trying to be a horror movie heroine! She just had the gross misfortune of knowing someone who was. When horror survival doesn’t depend on your own choices it usually depends on the reckless friend who drags you into the nightmare. And in that department, Bernadette pulled the shortest straw imaginable.

Unlucky #9: Patricia “Trish” Jarvis, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) – Trish Jarvis (Kimberly Beck) is the definition of so close, yet so far. She’s not out here twisting her ankle while Jason is chasing her or hiding behind a wall of chainsaws, she’s actually trying to survive, which makes her fate all the more unfair. She’s just a regular teen trying to enjoy a weekend with her little brother, but unfortunately she picked the worst Airbnb of all time because Jason Voorhees decided to check in and make it everyone’s problem. What makes Trish stand out in the Friday the 13th body count is that she actually fights back. She doesn’t have sex five minutes before her demise, she doesn’t run to the bathroom, in the dark, unassisted like Marcie. She runs, she strategizes, and she takes Jason head on. At one point, she’s literally swinging a machete at him like she’s been waiting for this moment her entire life. She even does the ultimate Final Girl move, risking herself to save her little brother, Tommy. For a while, it really seems like she might just pull off the impossible and live. But Jason is Jason, and Jason does not care how much effort you put in. After all that bravery, and all that fight, and all those near escapes, Trish still meets a gruesome end. Proving that in the Friday the 13th universe, survival isn’t about being strong or smart. It’s about sheer dumb luck and Trish simply didn’t have enough of it…or did she?

Unlucky #8: Randy Meeks, Scream 2 (1997) – Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) is the guy who should have survived. He literally had one job: to be the self-aware horror nerd who understands the rules well enough to avoid becoming another body in the morgue. He spent Scream (1996) narrating the Slasher Survival Guide in real time: don’t have sex, don’t say I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere alone. And yet, in Scream 2, all that genre expertise amounts to absolutely nothing when it’s his turn to run into Ghostface. His death is arguably one of THE RUDEST in horror history. He doesn’t die because he’s reckless or because he makes a dumb mistake. He dies because he’s standing next to a van in broad daylight talking smack about the killer. And Ghostface took that personally. Before Randy even knows what’s happening, he’s yanked into the van and brutally stabbed to death, all while the campus bustles around him, completely oblivious. It’s the ultimate slap in the face. He had all the knowledge, all the snark, all the meta-awareness, and still wasn’t enough to keep him off of Ghostface’s hit list. The worst part? His death isn’t just unlucky, it’s freakin’ insulting, man. He doesn’t get a final monologue, he doesn’t get to dramatically fight back, he gets silenced mid-sentence, mid-joke. And the Scream franchise itself just decided “nah, we’re done listening to you”. His entire purpose as being the guy who knows how to survive horror movies gets ripped away in the most ironic way possible. Ghostface could at least let him finish his thought.

Unlucky #7: Sarah Yazurlo – When Evil Lurks (2023) – Sarah’s (Paula Rubinsztein) death in When Evil Lurks is the kind of unlucky that makes you want to shout, “Really?! That’s how it goes down??”. Sarah is just trying to survive the supernatural nightmare that’s swallowing her family, but of course, things don’t go according to plan. Her grandson Jair has become possessed by the inescapable evil force that has stalked the family the entire film and now family reunions have turned into a literal nightmare. In one of the most twisted family betrayals in horror history, Jair, now fully under the evil spell, ends up eating his own grandmother. Yep, eating her. Breakfast of champs. Sarah, who has spent her whole the whole film trying to protect her sons and family, ends up as their dinner, literally and figuratively. The worst part? She’s still trying to save Jair right until the very end, making her fate not just unlucky but heartbreakingly tragic. She’s got the double whammy of being the victim and the one who’s failed by the family she tried to save. It’s not just that she died, it’s that she got devoured by her own grandson in one of the most messed up ways imaginable. If that’s not unlucky I don’t know what it is.

Unlucky #6: Jack Goodman, An American Werewolf in London (1981) – Ohh, Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne), let’s talk about unlucky. Jack is another case of following your best friend down places you probably shouldn’t, and he doesn’t even get the decency of surviving his first encounter with the werewolf. He’s torn apart within the first act of the film and just like that, he’s out of the picture. But here’s where his luck really takes his swan dive: death is only the beginning of Jack’s misery. He doesn’t get a nice, peaceful afterlife, no, no, he gets to hang around as a decomposing ghost slowly falling apart while trying to warn his best friend David (David Naughton) about the werewolf curse. His appearance gets progressively more disgusting as his skin rots off, making his ghostly visits way more unsettling than helpful. Jack’s post-death life is pretty much the ultimate bad luck scenario. Not only is he forced to witness his friend’s torment, but he also can’t do anything about it. He’s stuck in decomposing purgatory, filled with regret and the knowledge that his death is tied to a horrifying curse that’s now turning his best friend into a monster. A best friend that’s constantly ignoring that advice, but like, who doesn’t have one of those? At least in other horror flicks, the ghosts have a chance to move on, but not Jack. He’s cursed to linger in a decayed state, trying to help an oblivious and advice-deaf David while watching his own body rot away. Y’all need to leave these desperate, cornball friends alone. THEY WILL GET YOU KILLED!

Unlucky #5: Paxton Rodriguez, the Hostel Franchise – Paxton Rodriguez (Jay Hernandez) really should have stayed in his cabin and never left. After narrowly escaping the horrors of the Elite Hunting Club in Hostel (2005), Paxton probably thought he was done with the whole terrifying torture porn vibe. He’d made it out alive. He’d survived the unimaginable. And he had every right to hope for some peace of mind. But as we all know, in horror movies, peace of mind is reserved for people who don’t make the mistake of returning for the sequel. No, Paxton’s bad luck was just getting started. In Hostel: Part II (2007), Paxton tries to do the smart thing and go off the grid: avoid the shadows, live in peace, pretend like those rich sadists who buy human lives aren’t lurking around every corner. But spoiler alert, the Elite Hunting Club doesn’t forget. They don’t just let you go after you’ve survived their sick game. So what’s Paxton’s reward for escaping the worst nightmare of his life? A swift, humiliating death of in his own kitchen, where he’s decapitated in a scene so cold-blooded it literally hurt my feelings. His head is presented as a trophy for a sadistic buyer. And tadaa! Paxton goes from hero to horror movie footnote. Surviving all of that torture only to be wiped out within the first act of the sequel? Bad luck bingo. Paxton, buddy, you really should have stayed on that beach.

Unlucky #2: Casey Becker, Scream (1996) –

Unlucky #4: Mitsy, Pearl (2022) – Poor Mitsy (Emma Jenkins-Purro), if anyone ever deserved the “Molly, you in danger girl badge”, it’s her. Mitsy, Pearl’s younger sister-in-law is honestly just trying to exist in a world that’s rapidly slipping into chaos. Thanks to post-war life and her unstable, completely unhinged sister-in-law, Pearl. Mitsy starts off innocent enough, just another part of the family dynamic. You know, the kind of person who brings a little sunshine and some posi vibes to the table. But then Pearl happens. And by Pearl, I mean the ticking time bomb of madness that’s been festering under all those sweet smiles and country charm. Now Mitsy has the misfortune of being a victim of pure, unadulterated bad luck. Pearls obsessive, desperate need to control her world and her desires makes her lash out in ways that have little to do with Mitsy personally, but Mitsy doesn’t make it out alive. Her death is tragically unlucky for the sheer fact that it’s almost completely unexpected. Mitsy is just doing her thing, trying to navigate family life and Pearl’s crazed jealousy and rage come crashing into her world like a wreeeecking baaaall. The poor girl couldn’t help it if she was a better dancer than Pearl. She doesn’t even see it coming, and that’s how you know you’ve truly hit the unlucky jackpot. Her death feels especially tragic because it’s not personal. Pearl didn’t have a vendetta against her. It’s just that Mitsy’s role in her life was supposed to be nurturing, not to rip her dreams away. They could have had a bond, shared moments, and maybe Mitsy could have been someone who actually helped Pearl. Instead, Mitsy becomes just another casualty of a woman who could never get what she truly wanted. So, unlucky doesn’t even begin to cover it. She was a victim of someone else’s madness and unfortunately she was in the wrong family at the wrong time.

Unlucky #3: Jesse Walsh, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) – Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) also drew the short straw when it came to bad luck. Imagine being a regular high school kid, minding your own damn business, only to have Freddy Krueger not only haunt your dreams but decide you’re the perfect vessel for his vengeful spirit. Talk about a cosmic joke. In A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Jesse’s life takes a hard left turn into total chaos when Freddy chooses him to be his personal puppet. It’s not like Jesse signed up for this; in fact, his main crime seems to be having the bad luck of being in the wrong house at the wrong time. But instead of enjoying a typical teen experience: crushes, high school social drama, maybe some backyard barbecues and some beers. Jesse’s reality is a nightmare of Freddy Krueger invading his mind and eventually his body. And it’s not like Jesse has to fight Freddie off in the dream world. Ohh, no, Freddy’s not that courteous. Instead, Jesse is caught in the ultimate battle for his own identity as Freddy takes over his body, turning him into an unwilling host for his serial killer spirit. Imagine trying to maintain your sense of self. While you’re slowly losing control to a homicidal maniac who has a serious grudge against your entire neighborhood.

Every time Jesse falls asleep, he risks waking up to find Freddy in full control, making his waking life as terrifying as his nightmares. It’s not just survival that Jesse’s fighting for, it’s the soul crushing battle to stay himself amidst the chaos of Freddy’s possession. Not only does Jesse have to deal with the mind numbing fear of Freddy’s torment, but he also has to grapple with the psychological horror of knowing that he’s not just battling a slasher, he’s battling to hold onto his own mind. Jesse doesn’t just have to face Freddy’s wrath; he has to survive the horror of losing himself entirely. His story in Freddy’s revenge isn’t just about a fight for life, it’s about fighting for your very identity and in the end, he’s left with nothing but the ghost of a boy who never really stood a chance against Freddy’s twisted takeover. Poor Jesse was just Freddy’s chosen one, and that’s a fate no one deserves.

Unlucky #2: Casey Becker, Scream (1996) – Casey Becker. Talk about an unlucky character who didn’t deserve to be dragged into a nightmare. In Scream, Casey (Drew Barrymore) isn’t just the first victim, we’re talking about the opening scene that practically redefined the slasher genre and set the tone for an entire era of horror. Wes Craven knows a thing or thousand about the slasher genre, and he threw all his best tricks in the blender, making Casey’s death scenario the most tragic and unforgettable moment of the film. She’s just a regular girl chilling at home, preparing for a quiet night in, when a creepy caller sets the last moments of her life into motion.

What’s so unlucky about Casey is she isn’t some clueless teen wandering in the woods; she’s sharp and resourceful. She tries to outwit the killer by playing his sick game, answering his trivia questions and trying to turn the tables. But in the most soul crushing twists, it’s her who gets played. The killer knows her moves before she even makes them, and ultimately she’s outsmarted in the worst possible way: by being brutally murdered and left to be found by her parents. Casey doesn’t just meet her end; she’s the victim of twisted performance art that escalates into a terrifying public execution of sorts. Casey’s death so pivotal to the 90s slasher resurgence because it shatters all the expectations audiences had going into Scream. In the typical slasher flick, you know the formula: a few innocent teens, a masked killer and maybe a gory kill or three. But in Scream, Casey’s death isn’t just a brutal slashing; it’s a statement. Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson flipped the script by not only killing off the character early but doing it in such a shockingly cruel and theatrical way that audiences couldn’t help but feel unsettled from the very jump. She was the opening victim, yes, but her death set the stage for an entire decade of self-aware postmodern slasher films that would both pay homage to and deconstruct the genre.

Her death was the perfect metaphor for the genre itself. It wasn’t just about who gets killed, it’s about how they’re killed, why they’re killed, and the emotional punch it delivers. Her death, in a way, made the rules of slasher films feel like they didn’t apply any more. And as much as it hurt, it’s exactly what Scream needed to kick off the meta-horror revolution. Casey may have been unlucky in her personal fate, but her death was a game changer, influencing slasher films for years to come.

Unlucky #1: Ben, Night of the Living Dead (1968) – Ben (Duane Jones) is the ultimate example of how surviving a literal zombie apocalypse can still end in the most tragic and senseless way. In Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero not only introduced the modern zombie genre, but also held up a harsh, unflinching mirror to the racial tensions of the time. And to this day, Ben’s fate is still a chilling commentary on race relations, making his death not only unlucky but deeply prophetic. Ben is everything you want in a hero: calm under pressure, smart, resourceful and above all, a natural leader. He takes charge when others panic, securing the house and protecting the survivors from wave after wave of zombies. It’s no exaggeration to say that if it weren’t for him, the rest of the characters wouldn’t have made it as far as they did. He manages to keep everyone alive, hold down the fort, and get through the worst of the chaos, proving his mettle at every turn. You’d you think that after all of that: leading survivors fighting off the undead, showing infinite courage in the face of horror, Ben would be rewarded with hard earned victory? But nope, because racism.

In a cruel twist, just when he thinks he’s made it, when he finally sees the light at the end of the tunnel, Ben’s luck runs out in the most tragic way possible. He’s shot and killed by a group of local militia who mistake him (quote, unquote) for a zombie. In other words, Ben, the one person who has shown the most bravery and leadership, is murdered by the very people he was trying to save. And it’s not just any death. It’s a death driven by fear, prejudice and misunderstanding. The very people who should have been his allies in the battle for survival, in that moment, are so blinded by panic and fear that they don’t even recognize him as human. For all the fighting he did, for all the times he saved others, Ben is ultimately brought down by human ignorance and the venom of bigotry, which in the heat of the moment does little to distinguish friend from foe. Ben’s fate is tragic not only because it’s so avoidable, but because it shows how little has changed in the ways people see each other. Romero’s decision to cast Duane Jones, a Black actor, as the lead in a film that explores the breakdown of social order was a bold statement given the racially charged climate of the 1960s. Ben’s death wasn’t just a shocking plot twist; it was a direct commentary on race relations in America at the time, and it’s still painfully relevant today. It mirrors how Black people in America were, and in many ways still are, seen as less than human in the eyes of some, regardless of their individual achievements or merits.

We’re looking at you, DEI admonishers. Middle fingers literally all the way up.

Ben does everything right, leads with grace and outlast the literal walking dead, only to fall victim to the very same forces of hatred that have always targeted people of color. What makes this death particularly poignant is that it wasn’t just a random act of violence. It was a consequence of the systemic racism imbedded in the society Romero was commenting on. Ben fought harder than anyone else, made it through the worst, and then when he finally thought he had reached safety, he was let down by his own humanity not being recognized by others. It’s a gut wrenching and avoidable end, and it leaves you reeling with the knowledge that surviving the apocalypse wasn’t enough to overcome the prejudices he had to face. Romero didn’t just make a zombie movie, he used zombies as a stand in for the mindless, destructive forces of frenetic and violent irrational thinking and Ben’s death is the ultimate symbol of how the system never truly let him win. Ben’s unlucky death is more than a horror movie plot point; it’s a reminder of how racial prejudice and ignorance can lead to deadly consequences even when you’ve done everything right. His death feels like a gut punch not just to the audience, but to anyone who’s ever fought for survival in a world where not everyone sees you as worthy of it. Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead isn’t just a great film, it’s a film that continues to resonate and it’s a mirror reflecting the issues that still plague us today. Ben’s fate is a tragic, unyielding reminder of how far we still have to go.