10 Times You Totally Thought Horror Movie Characters Were Dead (But They Weren't)
Just when you thought they were out for the count, they came back from the dead.
If there's one thing you can count on in just about every horror movie, it's death, and typically a lot of it.
Even the least formulaic horror film will typically see a group of hapless victims picked off by an antagonistic force, whether flesh-and-blood or supernatural, ensuring the screen is soon enough littered with bodies.
And who among us doesn't love a good fake-out, where an apparently dead character returns from the brink of death and reveals they're not quite ready for the eternal nap just yet?
It's a trick that can be obnoxious when executed in an obvious or manipulative manner, but it can also genuinely surprise audiences in a positive, exciting, and rewarding way.
These 10 horror movies all dared to seemingly kill major characters off, often in totally decisive fashion, only to later reveal their most unexpected survival.
Despite how thoroughly their goose appeared to be cooked, and the oft-horrifying extent of their brutal injuries, these characters all survived when we'd all but given up on them.
The death fake-out should be used sparingly to avoid irritating audiences, but when it works, it really works...
10. Sondra Dickerson - Halloween Kills
Sondra Dickerson (Diva Tyler) was a minor but memorable character in 2018's Halloween - Laurie Strode's (Jamie Lee Curtis) neighbour who re-appears in sequel Halloween Kills where she and her husband are brutally attacked by Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney).
While trying to fight Michael off, Sondra is stabbed in the neck with a broken light tube, and as she seemingly bleeds out from her horrific injury, she's additionally forced to watch as Michael "tests out" a set of kitchen knives on her husband.
There didn't seem to be any doubt at all as to Sondra's demise given the traumatic extent of her injuries, but sure enough, she shows up again in Halloween Ends.
When Laurie is out shopping in Haddonfield, she's confronted by Sondra's sister, who blames her for bringing Michael back to the town, before we see Sondra, who sports a huge scar on her neck and is now unable to speak, while also being wheelchair-bound as a result of the attack.
Having suffered enough, Sondra at least survives the events of the film, and is even present when Michael is pulped by an industrial car crusher at the end of the movie.