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In the 130ish years that have passed since the first-ever horror movie, fans have enjoyed seeing characters sliced, diced, and stabbed by a great medley of monsters. Fans have come to expect gruesome deaths at the hands of wild antagonists. Death is a key aspect of the genre, so it's uncommon for a horror film to not indulge its bloodthirsty fanbase.
That being said, just because a horror movie has no deaths doesn't mean it's any less frightening. While most revel in the art of the kill, there are a few films that can deliver the scares without serving up corpses.
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
The Conjuring series is known for having some of the most well constructed and terrifying scares in horror movie history. Starting in 2013, The Conjuring kicked off its cinematic universe full of ghosts, demons, and dolls. Now spanning eight films, with several more on the way, The Conjuring universe is known for its horrifying imagery, as well as some excellently crafted scares. That being said, many might find it surprising that almost half of these films have a death count of zero.
While The Conjuring has no human deaths, the Perron family dog dies in the first act of the film. Its sequel however has no deaths, human or otherwise. This lack of corpses doesn’t detract from the horror in the slightest though. With many critics citing The Conjuring 2 as the scariest in the series, it’s clear that director James Wan can achieve more with less.
The Babadook (2014)
The Babadook was a surprise hit upon its release. Making back over five times its original $2 million budget, it soon became a horror cult classic. Focused on a young boy and his mother after the death of his father, a seemingly haunted storybook brings a demonic entity to their doorstep.
Similar to Eraserhead, The Babadook draws its scares not from gore or death, but rather from a slow ramp in tension coupled with some truly excellent sound design. Just a simple knock on the door in this movie is enough to send you leaping under the covers. The design of the titular character is deceivingly simplistic, as his static facial expressions and his 2D animated movements will unnerve even the toughest of viewers.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Putting it simply, The Blair Witch Project was a cultural phenomenon. The viral marketing intrigued audiences, and the found-footage format of the movie seemed to create an entirely new genre overnight. In the years to come, there would be dozens of copycat horrors. However, none have come close to replicating what made the original such a hit.
Part of what made The Blair Witch Project so special was that most of the scares in the film weren’t shown. The tension was entirely up to how active the audience’s imagination was. Despite an ambiguous ending, there are no confirmed deaths present on-screen. Fans have theorized for years on the meaning of the finale, but unfortunately, any confirmation remains to be seen.
Eraserhead (1977)
David Lynch is known for creating some of the strangest and most unnerving thrillers of the past 60 years. His filmography stretches into the thirties, and chief among his works is the 1977 film Eraserhead. Though not strictly a horror movie, Eraserhead is undeniably disturbing and is guaranteed to put anyone’s hair on end. It deals with the emotional turmoil of fathering an unwanted child. Eraserhead is less focused on scaring the audience than it is on making them squirm.
Unsurprisingly, this film has no deaths, as that is not the point of the movie. Death would be a release. Lynch does not want to give the audience that release, that satisfaction. The film thrives on creating an overwhelming sense of anxiety. Due to both its jarring imagery and extremely unsettling sound design, Eraserhead prides itself on being a shock to the senses.
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
Although still part of the overarching Conjuring universe, Annabelle Comes Home is the third in the Annabelle doll trilogy. Unlike its predecessors, this movie is centered around the Warrens, or more specifically, their daughter. When Judy Warren and two of her friends accidentally open Annabelle’s cage, the demon raises the spirits of multiple other cursed items in the Warren house. However, despite this chaos, no casualties were suffered.
Annabelle Comes Home was decidedly less scary and serious than previous installments. While fans certainly enjoyed it, the consensus was that it was more “fun” than chilling. This is unsurprising, considering that the director of Annabelle Comes Home was the screenwriter for IT Chapter 2. While overall, the movie wasn’t quite as terrifying as fans hoped, there’s still a decent amount of scares and some excellent buildup of tension.
Freaks (1932)
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A cult classic in every sense of the word, Freaks is an early horror depicting the abuse and eventual revenge of a group of circus freaks. It garnered controversy upon release, due to its alleged exploitation of the disabled people that played the freaks. However, in the 90 years since its debut, Freaks has become regarded as a disturbing and brutal representation of the class divide in America.
Although the movie is indeed hard to watch, there are surprisingly no recorded kills. Even near the end, when all the "freaks" gang up on the two antagonists, Hercules and Cleopatra, they are never killed. That being said, their fate is far worse than death. In the final scene, Cleopatra is shown dismembered, as well as tarred and feathered. Hercules is forced to sing falsetto for an audience after being castrated, although this scene was removed from later cuts.
Flatliners (1990)
Flatliners tells the story of a group of medical students who decide to investigate what truly lies in the middle area between life and death. While their discoveries start as fascinating, they soon take a dark turn as their damaged minds begin to perceive nightmarish visions and repressed memories.
Despite the misleading title, nobody stays dead. Although the characters go through truly traumatic experiences, they are always brought back to the land of the living just in time. While not necessarily the scariest film, Flatliners is psychologically upsetting, implying horrors that will stick with you after the credits roll. Unfortunately, the 2017 remake strays from what made the original great, instead opting to rely heavily on jump scares.