8 Horror Movies Where Only One Person Dies

3. Duel

Happy Death Day 2u
ABC

Steven Spielberg's Duel is famously the iconic director's precursor to Jaws. Much like Jaws had an unrelenting Great White causing all kinds of fear as its mean plot point, Duel's force of nature was a Peterbilt 281 truck.

In that 1971 offering, said truck spends the entirety of the movie hunting down Dennis Weaver's David Mann and his Plymouth Valiant.

What is so fascinating about Duel, is the mystique that surrounds the truck at its centre. There's no reason or rhyme given for why the truck opts to torment David, there's no explanation or backstory as to who this truck driver is, and the movie doesn't even ever fully show said twisted truck driver.

This is a stripped-back and minimalist picture, with the driving force of the film simply being two vehicles on an open road. And much like the plot of the movie is very 'less is more,' so too is the body count of Spielberg's '71 made-for-TV effort.

When it comes to the body count, the solitary victim is the mysterious truck driver - he and his truck going off the cliff edge of a canyon at the end of the movie.

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.