10 Scariest Movies Where No One Dies

Horror filmmakers may be able to make everything from children’s dolls to dusty old houses seem terrifying, but most of the time they have a not-so-secret weapon to rely on should proceedings become more boring than shudder inducing.

Yes, the reliable death scene can always be called upon by directors looking to scare their audience by confirming that circumstances are dire, no one is safe, and even our dear heroes may be living their last moments.

Whether it’s as explicit as the infamously gory Saw franchise or as demure as the surprisingly bloodless terror of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, death scenes are a horror mainstay and have been since the earliest years of the genre. But every once in a while a film comes along, whether horror or not, and manages to scare audiences silly without actually ending any lives in the process.

It may feel inconceivable, but some of the most terrifying films ever made don't actually off anyone during their runtimes. Some keep the worst moments offscreen entirely whilst others barely eschew death thanks to a technicality (more on that later), but in all ten cases here these are the scariest movies ever made wherein no one actually dies.

Filmed prior to the creation of the Hays Code, the famously Draconian institution of American censorship which moralised cinema into oblivion for a few decades, Todd Browning's Freaks is a film which couldn't have been made only a few years after its release.

Banned in many territories over the years, the film follows a revenge plot enacted by the titular freakshow performers, and manages to humanize its characters far more than many early Hollywood horrors (and arguably grants them more agency and humanity even than many modern movies).

This controversial early horror is still terrifying at times, particularly the fate of its two central villains, but nonetheless it doesn’t include actually include any onscreen death... despite the best attempts of the aforementioned vile villains.