10 Worst Fates Suffered By Heroes In Horror Movies

In one of the goriest, most shocking films ever made (by the rather sensitive, conservative standards of 1968 at least), lead protagonist Ben finds himself in hiding in a farmhouse with a selection of strangers.

A space probe, or some such highly improbable explanation, has caused the dead to rise with an insatiable craving for human flesh. Anyone who's seen at least one of the countless zombie flicks inspired by this one knows how this goes. Death, destruction, folks becoming zombies and, ultimately, an outright home invasion courtesy of the living dead.

By the next morning, only Ben is still breathing. A grouped of armed civilians enter the area, clearing out the zombified ruckus as they move through. Clearly traumatised by the night's gorefest, a spirit-crushed Ben's hopes are ever so slightly raised when he hears the sirens and gunfire.

Exiting the cellar, Ben's hopes of life going on are swiftly wiped out when a member of the armed posse mistakes him for a zombie and guns him down without a second's thought. His body is then thrown on the fire with the ghouls he'd fought so desperately against the night before.

It's a dark but fairly realistic moment in this landmark contribution to western horror cinema. To witness a character go through such a grisly ordeal only to be murdered by the very people one would expect to save him makes Ben's conclusion a bleak and dispiriting cap-off.