It all comes down to this! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most epic final showdowns in horror history. This list contains massive spoilers, so proceed with caution.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00We're not getting out of here alive, but neither is that thing."
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most epic final showdowns
00:09in horror history. This list contains massive spoilers, so proceed with caution.
00:1920. Alice vs. Mrs. Voorhees Friday the 13th
00:23Before Jason Voorhees enters the picture with his hockey masks and machetes,
00:27his mother is the one picking off unwitting camp counselors. The original Friday the 13th
00:32doesn't introduce its villain until the last 15 minutes or so.
00:35"...they're all dead, they're all dead."
00:38"...I'll go look."
00:39"...No, no, please don't leave me. They'll kill you too."
00:43"...I'm not afraid."
00:44Once it does, though, it's an all-out assault. She chases the sole survivor of her massacre
00:49all across Camp Crystal Lake. While some slasher villains are coldly detached,
00:54there's something incredibly scary about how unhinged and anguished Mrs. Voorhees is.
00:58"...Don't let her live."
01:00"...I won't, Jason. I won't."
01:04But Alice is no easy target. She eventually gets the upper hand with Mrs. Voorhees'
01:08very own machete. You can't say Jason doesn't come by it honestly.
01:1219. Lorraine and Ed Warren vs. Bathsheba The Conjuring
01:16Basements are creepy enough. They're even creepier when they're the site of an exorcism.
01:21Based on the alleged exploits of two real-life paranormal investigators,
01:25The Conjuring tells the story of a family whose new home is infested with a demonic spirit.
01:36The climax sees the mother possessed by a long-dead witch named Bathsheba,
01:41and Ed and Lorraine Warren administering an exorcism in the family's basement.
01:45This demon did not come to play. Everything in sight becomes a potential weapon. It's
01:50only through their joint effort that they are finally able to cast Bathsheba's spirit back to
01:55hell. 18. Lefty vs. Leatherface
02:07The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 The family of cannibals first introduced
02:11in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is now living in the bowels of an abandoned theme park. They're
02:16tracked down by a radio DJ named Stretch and an eccentric Texas ranger named Lt. Lefty Enright.
02:30At the end, Lefty challenges Leatherface to a chainsaw fight. It's about as thrilling and
02:35goofy as it sounds. No one would call Tobey Hooper's original movie level-headed,
02:39but this one is just as bizarre in an even sillier, darkly funny way.
02:4617. Eren vs. Everyone
03:00You're next. Three masked assailants meet their match in Eren,
03:03who is accompanying her boyfriend to his family reunion.
03:06You must be Eren. Yes.
03:08Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
03:09Glad you could make it. Yeah, thanks for having me.
03:11Little do they know, she grew up among survivalists, and is shockingly good at defending
03:16herself. This entry could cover the entire second half of the movie, which is a one-woman show of
03:21plain badassery. But it's her final showdown with the true perpetrators of the murders that really
03:26takes the cake. Let's just say Eren is an innovator when it comes to kitchen appliances.
03:31Then comes the real gut punch, when Eren finds out her boyfriend is in on the plot
03:35against his family. She is swift, efficient, and merciless.
03:39I'm sorry things got so out of control. But, um, how were we supposed to know that you were
03:49really good at killing people? Which is actually sort of weird, by the way.
03:5416. Naru vs. Predator
03:56Prey. This innovative science-fiction prequel is not set in the future, but 300 years in the past.
04:03In it, Naru, a Comanche woman, is hunted by an alien that crashes near her village.
04:07Look. Could be bear tracks.
04:11Maybe. But that's a big bear. And why was it on its hind legs? And what skins a snake like that?
04:17More than any other movie, Prey presents the Predator as a stranger in a strange land.
04:22Previous heroes in the franchise rely on futuristic weaponry to beat the monster.
04:26It's Naru's knowledge of the land that she lives on and her careful
04:29studying of her enemy's weaknesses that help her best the extraterrestrial invader.
04:33In fact, she wins by using the Predator's own advanced heat-seeking weapon against it.
04:38Military might isn't the answer. Ingenuity and strategy is.
04:42This is as far as you go. No more. This is it.
04:50Grace vs. The Ladomas Family. Ready or not.
04:54Samara Weaving plays Grace, a former foster kid who marries into a large,
04:58wealthy family. But marrying up comes with a price.
05:00Grace, good luck.
05:03The Ladomas family has some interesting traditions, one of which is to hunt down
05:07those who marry into the family to satisfy a decades-old curse. Grace becomes the target.
05:13She survives the night by the skin of her teeth. The family straps her to the dining room table
05:18to complete the sacrifice, but she fights them off. She's just in time, too.
05:22What should we do about her?
05:25I know it is too late, but I will not fail you again.
05:31The curse claims each family member one by one,
05:33causing them to explode in a ball of blood as Grace watches.
05:38Jay, Paul, Kelly, and Yara vs. The Entity. It follows.
05:43The curse at the heart of this unsettling supernatural story is hard to pin down.
05:47It takes the shape of people who are visible only to the afflicted,
05:50and it's seemingly unstoppable in its quest to kill.
05:52Oh my god. It just walked in the room. It's right there.
05:57How do you fight something like this? Jay and her friends think they've figured out a way.
06:01They trap the Invisible Entity in a public pool and try to electrocute it.
06:06Shifting back and forth between the characters' perspectives,
06:08the movie plays with the Entity's invisibility more than ever before.
06:11Do you see it? Is it still down there?
06:15Full of dread and arresting images, it's a heart-stopper of a climax.
06:20The Undead vs. The Bikers vs. The Survivors. Dawn of the Dead.
06:24At the end of George A. Romero's zombie opus, the four survivors who have set up camp in a
06:29shopping mall are besieged by a group of bikers who break into the place and raid it.
06:33They'll get in. They'll move the trucks.
06:37There's hundreds of those creatures down there.
06:39Come on, man. That's a professional army.
06:41Looks like they've been surviving on the road all through this thing.
06:45Well, let's not make it easy for them.
06:50In doing so, they let in all the zombies our heroes have spent the entire movie trying so
06:54hard to keep out. The place is soon overrun, and the rumbuctious bikers get more than they
06:59bargained for. In a stunning feat of terror, suspense, and makeup effects, the bikers are
07:04massacred, leaving the survivors to make their last stand against the Undead.
07:08Go on, get out of here.
07:16Get out of here.
07:20Jesus Christ, Peter.
07:22I don't want to go.
07:2312. Mia Allen vs. The Abomination. Evil Dead.
07:27Remakes can be a huge bust. More money and CGI doesn't necessarily mean a better movie,
07:33but the 2013 remake of the Grindhouse classic actually has a lot to offer.
07:38She's so wrong.
07:40Well, nobody could have known she would do something so twisted.
07:42No, you should have known. We've all been following you since we got here.
07:46While the character of David seems to be set up as the new franchise hero,
07:50it actually turns out to be Mia who faces off with the demon as the sky rains blood on them.
07:55Mia's victory is hard won. It's a brutal battle of might that's as spiritual as it is physical.
08:01In the end, she has to sacrifice her own hand to
08:04vivisect this demonic doppelganger with a chainsaw.
08:07I will feast on your soul.
08:10Worth it.
08:1111. Father Karras vs. Pazuzu. The Exorcist.
08:15The entire last half-hour of this seminal genre classic is a battle for a little girl's soul,
08:20but after the exorcism ritual seemingly fails, and the elderly Father Merrin dies in the process,
08:25it's Father Karras' brute force and renewed faith that wins the day.
08:30Take me. Come into me. Goddamn you! Take me!
08:36Considering how much he was questioning his belief in God throughout the story,
08:40Karras' victory over the demon Pazuzu is profound.
08:43He wrestles the possessed girl, begging the demon to take his body instead.
08:47In a great show of willpower, he fights the demon just long enough to throw himself
08:51from the girl's bedroom window, sacrificing himself to stop its reign of unholy terror.
08:5610. Chris vs. The Armitage Family. Get Out.
09:10Nope features a final battle with a massive alien of epic proportions,
09:14but Jordan Peele has yet to beat the tension of the last act of Get Out.
09:18This is crazy.
09:20We watch as Chris Washington fights back against a cult of wealthy white body-snatchers,
09:26taking out his treacherous girlfriend's murderous family one by one.
09:29Once it comes time to face off with Rose herself,
09:32Chris is about to kill her when he is suddenly bathed in police lights.
09:36So sorry. It's me. I love you. I love you. I love you.
09:48In one of the all-time fake-outs, it turns out to not be the police, but his friend in the TSA.
09:54It's a perfect ending twist.
09:569. Annie Wilkes vs. Paul Sheldon. Misery.
10:00Stephen King's story of a fandom turned poisonous ends in triumphantly violent fashion.
10:05Paul Sheldon is a writer who is injured in a car accident,
10:08and held captive by a deranged fan, Annie Wilkes.
10:11I asked God about you, and God said,
10:14I delivered him unto you so that you may show him the way.
10:18Show me the way.
10:20Yes.
10:20Once he finishes the book she forces him to write, he makes a daring escape attempt.
10:25He clobbers her over the head with a typewriter, which she doesn't take well.
10:29Using her fanatical love of his work against her,
10:31he sets his manuscript on fire and shoves the ashes in her mouth.
10:36You want it? You want it? Eat it! Eat it to yourself!
10:41Misery is a masterpiece of suspense. We've endured sledgehammered ankles
10:45and shotguns to get to this ending, and this final battle does not disappoint.
10:51Everything vs. Everyone. The Cabin in the Woods.
10:54A cliched story about five college students being picked off by a horde of undead ghouls
10:59soon takes a turn for the meta.
11:01This should have gone differently, ended more quickly.
11:06I can only imagine your pain and confusion.
11:10But know this, what's happening to you is part of something bigger.
11:15In actuality, they are unknowing pawns in an ancient storytelling ritual
11:19that determines the fate of mankind.
11:21When they discover this, the two surviving characters unleash every single mythical
11:25creature and monster you can think of from their holding cells under the facility.
11:29We're talking ghosts, zombies, killer clowns, werewolves, and even a massive king cobra.
11:35The last scene isn't so much as a battle as it is a complete and utter one-sided bloodbath.
11:41Please, please, please, please.
11:48Kill him.
11:49Freddy Krueger vs. Jason Voorhees.
11:51Freddy vs. Jason.
11:53If the series' first final girl, Nancy Thompson, proved anything,
11:56it's that Freddy Krueger could be defeated if he's pulled out of our dreams and into the real world.
12:01I take back every bit of energy I gave you.
12:07You're nothing.
12:11You're shit.
12:12But he puts up quite a fight when he meets Jason Voorhees.
12:16Jason's superhuman strength has him flinging the Nightmare Man
12:20all across Camp Crystal Lake like a ragdoll.
12:22They're evenly matched.
12:23Freddy gains the upper hand and is able to land some pretty nasty blows.
12:27When this long-rumored pairing finally come to theaters, horror fans were divided to say the least.
12:33But the extended final sequence was almost worth the worst of what came before it.
12:37Freddy!
12:40Go to hell!
12:41We're seeing two of horror's biggest and baddest boogeymen doing what they do best.
12:46Number 6. Sidney Prescott vs. Billy Loomis and Stu Macker.
12:50Scream.
12:51The devastating double reveal that Sidney's boyfriend, Billy,
12:54and her friend, Stu, are the killers launches this slasher into an epic finale.
12:58Corn syrup.
13:00Same stuff they use for pigs' blood in Carrie.
13:08Help me, please.
13:12Surprise, Sidney.
13:14Trapped in a house together, Sidney seizes the opportunity to hide and turn the tables on them.
13:18Watching her gain the upper hand over her attackers is so satisfying.
13:22She pulls no punches in beating them at their own game,
13:25making taunting phone calls, and bursting out of closets armed with sharp objects.
13:29Billy's death may be satisfying,
13:31but we have to give Sidney style points for that TV-to-the-skull kill.
13:35In your dreams.
13:37That's a moment that stays with you.
13:41Number 5. McCready vs. The Thing.
13:44The Thing.
13:44John Carpenter's claustrophobic remake about an alien that can absorb and replicate
13:48any living organism features some truly gruesome monster effects.
13:52We got to it before it had time to finish.
13:57Finish what?
13:59Finish imitating these dogs.
14:01Apart from how hideous it is, the extraterrestrial threat's scariest
14:05trait is that it seems unstoppable.
14:07Luckily, its one weakness seems to be fire.
14:09Kurt Russell's stalwart McCready,
14:12realizing he just may be the last human alive in this arctic dungeon,
14:16sets out to blow the Thing to pieces.
14:18When it reveals itself, in all its misshapen, slimy, and monstrous glory,
14:22McCready sets off a series of rigged explosives with a flare.
14:36The entire place goes up in a ball of fire,
14:39but not before Russell shoots off an iconic one-liner.
14:42It's the 80s, after all.
14:43Number 4. Clarice Starling vs. Buffalo Bill.
14:46The Silence of the Lambs.
14:48Hannibal Lecter may be scary, but he's not the big bad of this beloved thriller.
14:52Clarice thinks she's doing some background research on the serial killer her colleagues
14:56are about to arrest.
14:57Good afternoon, um, sorry to bother you.
15:00I'm looking for Mrs. Lipman's family.
15:01She has no idea she's actually knocking on Buffalo Bill's door.
15:05Realizing his true identity, she tries to arrest him herself,
15:08but he flees to the basement where he cuts the power.
15:11Starling is forced to fumble her way through a pitch-black killer's lair
15:15as he stalks her with night-vision goggles.
15:25Haunting and loaded with heart-stopping tension,
15:27this is a movie showdown that leaves you breathless.
15:30Number 3. Chief Brody vs. the Shark.
15:33Jaws.
15:33Three men of very different backgrounds sail out to catch and kill the Great White
15:37that's been terrorizing Amity Island.
15:39You're gonna need a bigger boat.
15:41But each of their traps goes horribly wrong.
15:44With one of his pals missing and the other devoured right in front of him,
15:48it's up to Chief Brody to stop the creature's killing spree.
15:51The adrenaline is at an all-time high as the boat begins to sink.
15:54With that great theme music, the incredible editing,
15:57and Steven Spielberg's masterful handling of tension,
16:00Brody's last stand is a thrilling race against time.
16:03He only has seconds to get off that amazing killing shot.
16:10Number 2. Laurie Strode vs. Michael Myers.
16:13Halloween.
16:14Jamie Lee Curtis made her film debut as the bookish babysitter
16:17who faces off against a masked murderer.
16:19Laurie is anything but a helpless victim.
16:22Faced with the sight of her friend's corpses and the expressionless mask
16:25of serial murderer Michael Myers, Laurie goes into survival mode.
16:35She makes use of anything she can to stop him.
16:38Before he can get to her, she stabs him with a knitting needle,
16:41a wire hanger, and finally, his own knife.
16:44Myers may be unstoppable, but Laurie is one of the few people
16:47who can give him a run for his money.
16:49No matter how audiences felt about Halloween ends,
16:52seeing her finally put him out of his misery was cathartic.
16:56You're just a man who's about to stop breathing.
17:01Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
17:04and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
17:07You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
17:11If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
17:16Number 1. Ellen Ripley vs. The Xenomorph Queen.
17:20Aliens.
17:20James Cameron's sci-fi horror classic has plenty of blood-curdling sequences,
17:25but it also has one of the best action hero performances ever.
17:28No one ever looked cooler going up against a space monster
17:31than Sigourney Weaver in this Oscar-nominated performance.
17:34Get away from her, you bitch!
17:38The ending sees Lieutenant Ellen Ripley at the controls of a huge cargo loader,
17:42protecting young Newt from an angry alien queen.
17:45It isn't just the coolest final fight in horror history.
17:48It also makes Ripley and Newt's mother-daughter relationship feel earned.
17:52And then they live happily ever after,
17:54and they never made another sequel that undermined the whole franchise.
17:57Are we gonna sleep all the way home?
18:00All the way home.
18:02Can I dream?
18:05Yes, honey, I think we both can.
18:08At least that's how we'll remember it.
18:10Which of your favourite horror face-offs didn't make the cut?
18:13Tell us in the comments.
18:14You're nothing!
18:22This is my house!
18:24Did you enjoy this video?
18:26Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,
18:28and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.