10 Slasher Horror Movie Characters Who Were Seconds Away From Dying
1. Neil Gordon - A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
The cult fave third entry into the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise is perhaps best remembered for killing off original series heroine Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), yet ended up leaving a considerably less-expected character alive.
Dr. Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson) is the psychiatrist caring for the young patients being terrorised by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), and in the film's climax he teams up with Nancy's father Donald (John Saxon) to find Freddy's remains and finally put him to rest.
But this results in the pair being terrorised by Freddy's re-assembled bones, the skeletal figure first killing Don by impaling him, and then beating Neil unconscious with a shovel before covering him in dirt.
Yet Freddy impatiently leaves the scene to continue attacking the other heroes, his expedience seemingly getting the better of him given that Neil is later shown to have survived his attack.
Furthermore, he eventually performs last rites on Freddy's remains, putting him to rest - albeit only until the next movie.
Jeez, Freddy - if you spent just one more second caving this guy's head in with that shovel, your defeat might've been avoided.