10 Most Badass Horror Movie Survivors

5. Charly - 31

31 Sheri Moon Zombie
Saban Films

Few people in modern horror split opinion as much as Rob Zombie. Love him or hate him, there's no doubting that Rob Zombie has a style and approach utterly unique to himself.

While the rocker-turned-director is likely best known amongst film fans for his two Halloween movies or his trilogy of Firefly Family-based pictures, one movie that maybe snuck under the radar of some is Zombie's 2016 release, 31.

Based around a twisted game of cat and mouse - think a gore-soaked spin on The Running Man - 31 sees a group of five carnival workers thrust into a twisted, torturous compound where it's kill or be killed unless you can somehow survive the night and be granted your freedom.

Sheri Moon Zombie's Charly finds herself facing the grim reality of 31, with her managing to get past the ominously-named Sick-Head, Psycho-Head, Schizo-Head, Death-Head, and Sex-Head before getting to the the 'final boss' of the picture, Richard Brake's Doom-Head.

To the surprise of those running the horrifying antics of the 31 game, Charly manages to make it past crazed clowns, chainsaw-wielding rednecks, a kinky Harley Quinn-esque femme fatale, and holds off Doom-Head just long enough for this night of carnage's timer to run out.

In the narrative of the movie, this marks Charly as the only person ever to safely survive 31 - and the film's closing shot is her and the brutal Doom-Head having a sunrise-set stand-off that hits home in a whole variety of fist-pumping ways.

That ending, of course, delivers a sense of ambiguity by its very nature, yet in terms of what the viewer sees, Charly is at least alive to fight another day - even if that fight will take place minutes after the film concludes.

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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.