10 Weirdly Feel-Good Horror Movies With Happy Endings

Horrors to warm the cockles of even the coldest hearts.

Shaun Of The Dead
Universal/Edgar Wright

A feel-good horror movie might seem like a contradiction in terms given the genre’s tendency to leave us feeling unnerved, grossed out and terrified.

But not all horror films are a succession of gory deaths and heart attack-inducing jump scares, and nor should they be. Some eschew all that stabby, scary stuff in favour of a more warm-hearted approach and – dare we say – have the potential to warm the cockles of even the coldest of horror fan hearts.

And let’s face it: all that torture porn and splattercore can get a tad tedious and depressing after a while and even the most ghoulish of gore hounds needs a little respite from all that every now and then.

So, for the benefit of harried horror fans everywhere here’s a selection of movies more heart-warming than horrible. Well, we say ‘heart-warming’ but there are still some scares and gory moments – they are horror films after all. But in these movies happy(ish) endings abound and you’ll be left feeling weirdly uplifted rather than just plain weirded out.

Fair warning: spoilers are headed your way.

10. Housebound

Shaun Of The Dead
Semi-Professional Pictures

The Movie: Young reprobate Kylie attempts to steal an ATM safe and earns herself an ankle monitor and an eight-month long house arrest charge at her childhood home with her mum Miriam and stepdad Graeme, the former of which believes her home is haunted.

Initially sceptical, Kylie experiences a few spooky goings-on herself all the while dealing with her paranormal enthusiast probation officer Amos and smarmy cynic of a psychologist Dennis.

After discovering her childhood home used to be a halfway house that a murder took place in years previously and that her weird neighbour’s adopted feral savant son Eugene was most likely responsible Kylie suspects he’s living in the walls of her house with an eye to killing her and her family.

So far, so ‘the killer is in the house’ trope.

The Happy Ending: Turns out that although Eugene is indeed living in the walls, he’s actually innocent and a really nice dude with a knack for electrics and drawing. The real killer is slimy Dennis who committed the murder whilst doing work experience at the halfway house and shows his true psycho colours by trying to strangle Miriam.

Luckily, the heroic Eugene and Kylie band together and gorily take Dennis out by blowing up his head by strategically stabbing him with an electrified roasting fork.

An epilogue set months later sees them living happily ever after with Kylie getting her ankle monitor removed and Eugene working as the house electrician. D’aww.

Contributor

Helen Jones hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.