10 More Horror Characters We All Foolishly Thought Had Got Away
Those moments when horror filmmakers cruelly pulled the rug from under our feet.
One of the oldest tropes in the horror playbook is to lull the audience into a false sense of security and convince them that everything is fine, only for something awful to happen while they're relishing in that apparent victory.
Considering that a scenario like this happens in pretty much every horror movie, you'd think we'd know to always expect the worse. And yet, we consistently, foolishly believe that things are going to pan out for our main characters, even though horror history dictates that the chances of a happy ending are slim at best.
One of the main ways horror movies like to shatter our optimism is by making us believe that a particular character is going to survive, only to reveal at the very last minute that, nah, they won't. This can occur at any point in a movie but it most often happens at the end: the main threat has been dealt with, the film is wrapping up, and the character in question looks to have escaped... but a final gut-punch instead has them killed off.
Turning victory into defeat with the snap of a finger is one of the cruellest things that can happen in a horror flick, and these ten characters can certainly attest to that.
10. Jeff (Cabin Fever)
Celebrating before you've actually, definitely won is generally a bad idea. If you aren't wrapped up in bed watching Netflix then you're probably not in the clear, and screaming "I've made it!" before that point is just needlessly tempting fate.
Evidently though, Cabin Fever's Jeff didn't get that memo. Upon discovering that he's the sole survivor of a flesh-eating virus that has devoured the rest of his friends, he runs outside and declares his joy at having outlasted everyone else... only to be gunned down by a group of cops with a loose trigger finger and a "kill on sight" order.
If Jeff hadn't decided to celebrate his "victory" so prematurely, he would've probably walked away with his life. And for a brief time, it does genuinely seem like he's going to survive the movie. From the cops' point of view though, he probably came across like a diseased madman - so you can't really blame them for opening fire.