10 Movies Where The Hero Was Dead All Along

Released literally decades before most of these movies, Carnival of Souls is often credited with originating the "dead all along" trope, with the film's very first scene depicting a car accident which sends Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) and her pals plunging off a bridge into the river below.

Inexplicably, Mary seemingly escapes her watery grave and returns to shore while the police are dragging the lake searching for bodies.

It's important to remember, of course, that this film was released in 1962 - almost 40 years before the big twist became a cliche in its own right, and so audiences were willing to accept what they were seeing on face value.

Throughout the film Mary finds herself increasingly haunted by troubling visions, especially a ghoulish man (played by director Herk Harvey) and a pavilion which she seems unavoidably drawn to.

Mary's journey ends with her meeting her own ghoulish self at the pavilion, being chased by an army of ghouls, and finally collapsing on the beach.

In the final scene, it's revealed that the corpses of Mary and her friends have been discovered inside their car in the river - she was dead the whole time.