10 Craziest Ways Horror Movie Characters Have Returned From The Dead

Because sometimes dead is better.

by Andrew Pollard
The Lazarus Effect
Relativity Media

There are few genres quite as popular as the horror realm. Whether in a casual sense or in a die-hard way, everybody loves a good (or bad!) horror movie and everybody has their own personal favourites.

While horror is clearly big business, it can often be a questionable, face-palming landscape at times. For instance, some of the resurrections seen across the horror genre over the decades are absolutely nuts. Sure, some of these reanimations are fun, some are cleverly put together, and some may even feature some stunning SFX work at play, but then there are those that amp up the crazy scale just a tad too much.

We all know that one of the golden rules of horror is that death isn't exactly a permanent arrangement, and for some characters we've seen them return from the grave time and time again. And it's on the genre's most outlandish of these resurrections that we're going to shine a spotlight here.

With that in mind then, here are ten of the most outrageous, outright bonkers ways that horror movies have brought characters back from the afterlife.

10. Ring/The Ring - By Video Tape

The Lazarus Effect
Hideo Nakata

1998's Ring is largely viewed as the movie that kickstarted the J-horror boom of the early 2000s, and the film still holds up today as a terrifying classic.

At the centre of this Hideo Nakata film - which in itself was based on Koji Suzuki's 1991 novel - is the tormented spirit of Sadako Yamamura. Thrown down a well to her death, Sadako is conjured from her watery grave courtesy of an eerie video tape.

Upon somebody watching said tape, the undead presence of Sadako chillingly stumbles out of a TV screen with nefarious thoughts on her mind. The original movie was creepy then, is creepy now, and will forever be the stuff of nightmares for so many of us.

Like so many other J-horror efforts, Ring would be given an English language remake in the form of Gore Verbinski's The Ring. That 2002 redo managed to hit the majority of the original picture's scares and sense of genuine dread, and again at the centre of the remake was the concept of, in this instance, Samara being invited into people's homes through a mysterious video tape.

Sequels, prequels, and crossovers have followed for the 1998 Ring, with the franchise's antagonist still going strong as recently as last year's simply-titled Sadako.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.