Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
Really? They made it to the end?!
Horror movie tropes of which character gets to be the final girl (or guy) have been around for so long most viewers feel like they have pretty decent odds on who will make it to see the sunrise. But every now and then a movie will throw a curveball at you, choosing to keep the most unlikely of players in the game. It may even affect how you feel about the movie in general.
So, with a big old Spoiler Alert, here are my picks for Five Most Surprising Survivors in a Horror Movie.
#5 The Blob (1988)
This dude has the most 80s hair ever!
This is a two-for-one, as my surprise here was directly tied into who lived and who died.
In this remake of the 1958 film of the same name a meteorite crashes near a town with an alien organism inside. After being discovered by an old man it begins spreading through the town devouring everything and everyone in sight. Three high-schoolers Brian (Kevin Dillon), Meg (Shawnee Smith) and Paul (Donovan Leith Jr.) are initially at the center of it all with Meg and Paul set up as your classic good kids in love. As this is an 80's movie (and a banger of one, so if you missed it, I highly recommend giving it a go) you would think the clean-cut Paul would be our would-be hero and final guy, rescuing his beloved while fighting off the giant ball of sentient goo. So, it came as a complete shock to me when poor Paul dies in the first half. Not just that but he went out in a very painful manner leaving us with an unlikely replacement in the form of the motorcycle-riding bad boy Brian.
I didn't see it coming but I gave them huge props for going this route as it made you uneasy for the rest of the movie, knowing no one was going to be safe from The Blob!
#4 Friday the 13th (Remake)
Come on Jason. There must be an easier way to meet girls
Friday the 13th is no stranger to picking unlikely survivors with arguably the most surprising being that of Ted in Friday the 13th Part 2 who survives Jason Voorhees simply by being smart enough to spend the night at a motel instead of returning to Camp Crystal Lake after a night of heavy drinking. But while Ted just got really lucky it's Whitney Miller (Amanda Righetti) whose survival stands out for this Friday fan.
Kept hostage by Jason due to the fact she resembles his mother, Whitney is eventually rescued by her brother Clay (Jared Padalecki) and Jenna (Danielle Panabaker) a kind young woman he met while searching for his missing sister. Considering Whitney was kept in a cellar, chained and probably underfed (seriously, she was there for months, and I don't see Jason Voorhees slaving over a hot stove or ordering out) my money was on Whitney not making it to the end. So it wasn't only surprising, but kinda sad to see poor Jenna bite the big one instead.
Now I know what you're thinking; the very end of the movie sees old hockey-faced JV pop out the water to deal with the siblings. But if you're a fan of the franchise you'll know this type of ending was probably a "dream" sequence. The kind they used to justify bringing the big guy back for another round of whack-a-teen. So personally, I'm adding Clay and Whitney to the survivor's circle.
Speaking of circles…
#3 The Circle
Man, they went really dark with the Wheel of Fortune reboot
This sci-fi horror dropped in 2015 and like another eponymous shape-titled movie, Cube, placed a group of strangers together in a hellish scenario to test humanity.
Now if I had to bet money on who would win out in the end here, I would've lost every last cent. Granted, guessing who would die wasn't as difficult as the story includes a batch of cliched characters in the form of a homophobic lawyer, an atheist, and a racist cop just to name a few. But once they've whittled away the obvious choices, things get more complex. And as this is one of the newer movies on the list I'll try not to give too much away, other than to say Circle seems to say the very worst of humanity will probably be the only ones left standing when the aliens ultimately invade.
#2 Deep Blue Sea
LL about to spit some fire. Get it? Because he's also a rapper? You get it
Before you could find out anything with a quick Google search movies were a lot more fun. Chances are all you saw was a quick trailer (that didn't give away the entire plot) at your local cinema and based on if it looked like fun or you liked the casting you would check it out. This is exactly what happened to me with Deep Blue Sea. So, while I knew LL Cool J was starring in this 1999 shark fest, the last thing I would've expect was to see him as chef Preacher survive not one, not two, but three intelligently enhanced mako sharks, even killing one himself.
In a pattern that's now emerging from this list, another character is killed in one of the most shocking (and ridiculous) ways. And considering who was playing that character you would think he would've been one of the people left standing (floating?). Things turned out quite differently though and it was only years later I found out LL Cool J (allegedly) has it in his contracts he's never to be killed off in these types of movies.
I'm not sure if this is true but it would explain how the self-proclaimed "Ladies Love" also managed to survive a meeting with Michael Myers himself in Halloween: H20.
#1 Scream VI
EDITOR JULES: Come on Red Queen, take it away! RED QUEEN: You're all going to die down here EDITOR JULES: That's the stuff
While Scream V was a bit of a slog for me, Scream VI added enough energy and fun to make the franchise feel vibrant again. Bringing the cast of survivors from Part V and dropping them in New York, the story also brought back Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) from Part 4 teaming the now FBI Agent up with sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega) and putting them up against the most vicious and violent Ghostface killers we've seen yet. Keep this in mind going forward.
With a standout stalking scene on a subway train we witness Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) get brutally stabbed. As the chase continues most of the group end up in an abandoned theater to face off against a trio of Ghostfaces. We then see Chad get stabbed MULTIPLE times in the front and back. Then Kirby gets stabbed, Jenna gets stabbed; basically, if you're in this movie you're getting stabbed! Yet somehow Every Single One of these people survive!
The final scene even has them cracking jokes with Tara walking around smiling and kissing Chad (who once again…WAS STABBED MULTIPLE TIMES!) like if she's simply dealing with a stubbed toe. The only answer I could come up with for these surprising survivals was the Scream franchise is now officially the Fast and Furious of the horror genre. Either that or these people are secretly invincible and being stabbed is just their idea of a fun weekend.
So, that's my list. Which of these survivors surprised you the most? Any you would add to the list? And you can check more horror movie rankings from Robot Mango Reviews below:
CELEBRATING SIX BLACK HORROR HEROES WHO SURVIVED (AND SIX WHO DIDN'T)
TOP 5 VILLAIN MONOLOGUES IN HORROR MOVIES
TOP 7 UNWORTHY SURVIVORS IN HORROR MOVIES
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge-Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I'll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes. Double Tap Baby! Read More
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