One of the highest stakes ever in horror films is the idea that some of the victims or even the protagonist themselves might die. Death, after all, is one of the scariest events that could happen to a person. That's why many horror films capitalize on that fear. Those that don't, however, have more to offer other than cheap violence.
Horror films where no people actually die presents a deeper level of fear in their audience that's akin to torture. Hence, they can be even more frightening seeing as human lives aren't treated too cheaply. Moreover, the idea that these living, feeling, and thinking characters that are more relatable compared to sacrificial lambs in other horror movies could be anyone adds up to the fear factor. These horror movies have mastered that kind of craft.
10 Poltergeist
- Release year: 1982
A ghost that isn't quite out for anyone's blood and just wants to make everyone's household life a living hell doesn't sound too terrifying on paper. But Poltergeist proved anyone who thought of that wrong back in its heyday. It starts in a rather cliched manner (for contemporary standards) where a family buys and occupies a dream home.
Only, that dream home quickly became a nightmare when weird stuff starts falling out of place. Gradually, malevolent spirits reveal themselves to the family as they try to possess the youngest kid in the household. After this film, most haunted house movies looked to it as a template.
9 Babadook
- Release year: 2014
Technically, one person died in Babadook but that was the main character's husband and it was prior to the events of the film. Regardless, this death was rather significant as it somewhat manifested into a ghost haunting the widow and her problematic toddler in what appears to be a metaphor for single-parent grief and depression.
This manifestation names itself the Babadook and it creeps up on the mother and son protagonists in its own sneaky and harmful way. Sometimes it deprives her of sleep by terrorizing her at night and sometimes it almost gives her and the audience a heart attack.
8 Blair Witch Project
- Release year: 1999
The turn of the millennium snuck one more iconic horror film that popularized and gave a platform for found-footage horror films: Blair Witch Project. What appeared to be a routine camping trip for three adult friends quickly turned into a panic-inducing struggle for safety as they find themselves lost in the middle of an eerie forest.
That, or the forest itself is riddled with witchcraft and is playing tricks on them. Whichever the case, the film is minimalistic about its supernatural elements and leaves the monsters, ghosts, or whichever, in the viewers' imagination as the trio stumbles and bickers.
7 Stir Of Echoes
- Release year: 1999
Leave it to Stephen King to populate the horror genre with some sensible and minimalistic titles. Stir of Echoes continues the horror king's trend as it's one such film where no one dies as well. That didn't mean horrific things didn't happen as blue-collar father Tom Witzky challenges her sister-in-law's notions of the supernatural.
Tom, assured that the supernatural doesn't exist, allows his sister-in-law to put him in a trance. After that, Tom was in for the ride of his life as he's bombarded with several hallucinations and the ever-lingering feeling of paranoia that something's watching him.
6 The Amityville Horror
- Release year: 2005
We're talking about the remake here from 2005 starring Ryan Reynolds. If one can see past Reynolds' out-of-place physique in this film, then they're in for the jump scares and horrific imagery of their modern lives. It follows Poltergeist's template where a married couple moves into a countryside home.
It doesn't take long before some odd events start happening. George, Reynolds' character, is also affected negatively by said events where he starts becoming more and more deranged the more he spends time inside the house.
5 Signs
- Release year: 2002
Like Stephen King, M. Night Shyamalan is one of the most recognizable names in horror and signs is one of his most iconic pieces. It was so prominent back in the day that tons of parodies about it popped up like mushrooms. It also helps that Signs is features a powerhouse cast.
At its forefront is Mel Gibson—a family man and farmer whose crops suddenly started displaying some ominous and suspicious formations. It all boils down to the suggestion of alien life mucking around with his farm which causes distress for his whole family.
4 1408
- Release year: 2007
1408 stars a similar skeptical protagonist to Stir of Echoes. The lead male is a cynic who doesn't believe in the supernatural. In fact, he even makes it his job to debunk ghosts and many other horror phenomena as a book author.
Then one day, he decided to ignore the warnings of a shady hotel manager and checks in a haunted hotel room. Sure enough, his faith or lack thereof is put to the test as several inexplicable anomalies started happening around him.
3 Flatliners
- Release year: 1990
Flatliners explores the wild notion of what exists in the thin line between life and death. It involves a group of medical students wondering what it feels like to nearly die or if they'll actually see something that's worth risking a life.
They start rather slow but keep upping the stakes by trying out more dangerous near-death experiences. Soon, some of them started seeing visions pertaining to past traumas or other psychological disturbances as their experiments take their toll on their minds.
2 The Others
- Release year: 2001
Others follows in the footsteps of haunted house classics with its own story and introduces Grace, played by Nicole Kidman and her two photosensitive children. A series of events soon start happening which leads Grace to believe that their new house is haunted.
It doesn't help that the helpers around the house are sometimes creepy, old, and quiet. The film will keep viewers guessing as to what kind of horrors lay in store for Grace as she questions her and her children's sanity.
1 The Conjuring
- Release year: 2013
While The Conjuring is often crowned as one of the scariest contemporary titles in existence, no one actually dies in it. A nasty possession and some injuries inflicted by bad spirits are well portrayed but the film doesn't go down a more lethal route.
Even so, that doesn't detract from the horror aspects and elements of this haunted house story. The setup is cliche but The Conjuring does well to set itself apart by intensifying the dread and the ghostly imagery of its haunted house's hidden denizens.