There are familiar tropes in scary movies that even the harshest of critics love. Every subgenre in horror it comes with its own, often revolving around a central theme or character colored with a different enough hue to work across multiple films.
One story that viewers love, ironically, is the one where the good guy loses. There’s no trophy at the finish line, no beautiful thoughtful moment before the end credits roll – it’s just a scary movie with no semblance of a happy ending.
There are romantic movies and comedies where happily ever after is guaranteed, but the appeal of horror can sometimes be that the good guy gets the short end of the stick. A Reddit thread shared today asks what are some of the best horror movies featuring a good guy who suffers a great loss.
A comment mentions Master keyand several responses agreed with the idea.
clover field was another addition to the list where the good lose.
Drag Me to Hell it was definitely a Raimi movie; intense and frenetic – it was also a movie where you rooted for the “good guy” but you had a feeling it was going to end with an overwhelmingly horrible ending.
did anyone win Cabin in the woods?
Autopsy of Jane Doe seems like an obvious addition to the list.
the Paranormal activity Movies (and any movie with an entity going after someone) are definitely on the list.
This horror fan added quite a few movies where the good guy loses.
chain letter it’s a callback to the days when MySpace ruled the social media kingdom, and we all talked for hours every night on AIM. Chain letters were everywhere, and the threat of endless doom was unsettling if you didn’t forward them.
The rent it’s also a movie where the good guy is set up for failure from the get-go.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a 2009 movie that was supposedly inspired by a true story, but was instead inspired by various brutal and terrifying stories of real-life serial killers.
Leaving the best (of the worst) for last: The fog. It was the most heartbreaking ending, downright tragic and, for some, made the movie heartbreakingly worth watching.
With the spooky season looming, it’s even more appropriate to have a movie list ready when the world is kicking you while you’re down and you need to see someone else lose too.
