50 Unluckiest Horror Movie Characters

Saw 2 (2005)

The Horror Character: Eric Matthews, a police detective with some fairly serious anger issues.

The Bad Luck:
Of all Jigsaw's victims, Matthews is probably the one who goes through the most torment. Across three films he has his son abducted, his ankle smashed, is locked up for god knows how long and then placed in one of the later killers' traps. No wonder he effectively commits suicide by the end. As he puts it himself, "I don't want to play any more!"

If They'd Been Carrying A Rabbit's Foot: Jigsaw would have confessed, reconciled himself to his condition and passed away peacefully. Job done.

Halloween 4 (1988)

The Horror Character: Jamie Lloyd-Carruthers, daughter of Laurie Strode and Michael Myers' niece.

The Bad Luck: Jamie has a really rough time of it, all things considered. She's teased about her uncle by her peers, is rendered mute by the weird connection she shares with him, is forced to have sex with him, sees all her friends and her sibling killed by him and finally ends up mangled in a threshing machine. Great!

If They'd Been Carrying A Rabbit's Foot: She'd have found out she was adopted. Although that probably wouldn't save her, to be honest.

The Human Centipede (2010)

The Horror Character: Lindsay, one of the luckless trio who become the unwilling subjects in Dr. Josef Heiter's bizarre science experiment.

The Bad Luck:
All of them are fairly unlucky, but as the middle-section of the centipede, Lindsay has it worse than most. Indeed, by the end, she's attached to a pair of corpses! Gross.

If They'd Been Carrying A Rabbit's Foot:
She and her friend would have chosen a different house in which to seek shelter.

The Strangers (2008)

The Horror Character: Kristen McKay, who heads off on holiday with husband James to his parents remote house in the country. Naturally, it's not that relaxing a break.

The Bad Luck: Having had a trio of strangers break into her house and terrorise her, Kristen begs of the ringleader, "why are you doing this to us?" The answer is devastatingly simple: "because you were home." Blind chance in its most horrifying form.

If They'd Been Carrying A Rabbit's Foot:
The neighbours would have answered their door first!

Scream (1997)

The Horror Character: Sidney Prescott, primary target of the Ghostface killer during the Woodsboro murders.

The Bad Luck:
Not only has she had to endure the rape and murder of her mother, but poor old Sydney has been targeted by various killers throughout four whole movies, with many of her loved ones buying it in the process. Enough already!

If They'd Been Carrying A Rabbit's Foot: She'd have moved away from Woodsboro immediately after her mother's death, and resisted the inexplicable urge to return!

Drag Me To Hell (2009)

The Horror Character: Christine Brown, a bank loan officer who turns down an old woman's extension on a mortgage payment.

The Bad Luck:
Her decision to toe the bank's party line in order to impress her boss results in three days of torture for Christine, before finally being, er, dragged to hell. Doesn't really seem fair, does it?

If They'd Been Carrying A Rabbit's Foot: The old dear would simply have been depositing twenty quid in coppers. A pain, sure, but better than the alternative.

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

The Horror Character: David Kessler, an American tourist backpacking his way across the green and pleasant land of England.

The Bad Luck:
If embarking upon a rural English holiday you can bank on freezing temperatures, driving rain and the odd randy bull or two. What you can't legislate for is a sudden werewolf attack. That's just bad luck.

If They'd Been Carrying A Rabbit's Foot:
He'd have run into an over-exuberant sheepdog at the very worst.

Eden Lake (2008)

The Horror Character: Jenny, a nursery teacher who heads off to the countryside for a weekend away with her boyfriend Steve.

The Bad Luck: Unlucky enough to run into a bunch of murderous teenagers who torture both her and her boyfriend (who they go on to kill), Jenny is shit out of luck even when she escapes – the house in which she seeks help just happens to be where the gang leader lives!

If They'd Been Carrying A Rabbit's Foot: She'd have made the executive decision to take Steve for a weekend abroad. Britain is broken, after all.

Child's Play (1988)

The Horror Character: Andy Barclay, a six-year-old boy who longs for only one thing: a talking "Good Guy" doll.

The Bad Luck:
As if it isn't bad enough that his doll is possessed by the soul of a deceased serial killer, Andy is forced to take the rap for several of Chuckie's crimes, landing him in a psychiatric ward. He's only six, for heaven's sake!

If They'd Been Carrying A Rabbit's Foot: His mum would have bought him an Action Man instead.

Mulberry Street (2006)

The Horror Characters: The six survivors of the Manhattan-based plague that turns humans into bloodthirsty rat-like creatures.

The Bad Luck:
Our heroes decide the time is right to slaughter their nearest and dearest, all of whom have been transformed into said creatures. Moments later, they discover that everyone will return to normal on the arrival of sunrise. Oh.

If They'd Been Carrying A Rabbit's Foot:
They'd have been privy to that information before summarily executing their respective family members.

George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.

Latest in Horror Movies
Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice 2 star Jenna Ortega would love to star in another classic horror comedy franchise: Gremlins
Lea Myren as Elvira in The Ugly Stepsister
Cinderella body horror movie that made viewers sick gets release date, and it’s coming very soon
Indy in Ben Leonberg's haunted house horror Good Boy
Good Boy, a new scary movie told from a dog's POV, is being called "one of the best horror films of the year"
Cujo
Netflix is making a brand new adaptation of Cujo, the infamous Stephen King book about a killer dog
Drop
New horror movie starring White Lotus and Yellowstone actors gets a great Rotten Tomatoes score as early reactions call it the "perfect date night movie"
Clown in a Cornfield
First reactions to new clown horror movie say the slasher is giving Terrifier a run for its money
Latest in Features
Matt Mercer, Brennan Lee Mulligan, and art from the opening of Exandria Unlimited: Divergence
"He's right to think it's cool, because it is": D&D legends Matt Mercer and Brennan Lee Mulligan on Divergence, sharing worlds, and what they want next from Exandria Unlimited
The Elder Scrolls' Oblivion's most annoying fan holds a torch
Oblivion remake leaks suggest Skyrim's cooler sibling is making a comeback, but I'm worried a modern makeover could bulldoze over the weirdness that makes it great
Ayo Edebiri in Opus
The Bear star's new A24 cult thriller proves Ayo Edebiri needs to be the final girl in a horror movie
Nintendo 64 console with SummerCart64 inserted on desk with Panasonic CRT TV and Zelda: Nightmare ROM hack on screen.
I've fallen down a Zelda ROM hack rabbit hole, and this nifty N64 flash cart is to blame
The Omniflex armrests of the Corsair TC500 Luxe
I'm declaring war on gaming chair armrests in 2025
Cat Detective Albert Wilde screenshot of Albert the anthropomorphic cat who wears suit driving his car
LA Noire eat your heart out: This weird and wildly funny detective game saw me investigate a mysterious dead body as a broke cat in a suit