Land, air or sea, horror never rests. In fact, a good lake or river is almost a magnet for evil and corruption. If your in a film… always be wary of the water. In fact, that is what our list is about, those poor souls that should have stayed away from the water. It might be good for drinking, pleasant to swim in, but it’ll also kill you. Here are a list of films that saw tragic and untimely deaths at the watery hands of the Grim Reaper. Today, we look at 10 Horrific Drownings In Horror Films. 

Creepshow (1982)

Creepshow is a shocking horror anthology brought to life through the pen of Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero. One of the chilling tales is called Something to Tide You Over, which is about a wealthy and ruthless business man called Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen), who takes revenge on his cheating wife and her lover Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson). Richard forces Harry, at gun point, to dig a hole in his remote and private beach. Richard buries Harry in the hole and allows the tide to slowly wash over his exposed head and drowns, as a video camera records the entire ordeal. Further down the beach, Richard’s wife is also going through the same nightmare.

The story does not end here though. This is, after all, a Stephen King story. The two drowned lovers return from their watery grave to drag Richard down to the beach, where they execute him via his very own demented methods.

What Lies Beneath (2000)

Harrison Ford makes a rare appearance as a bad guy in the supernatural thriller What Lies Beneath, as a ghost haunts Claire and Norman Spencer’s house. Norman (Ford) makes a sudden turn as a heel when his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) discovers that the specter is that of an ex-lover Norman had killed. In a moment of pure white-knuckle horror, Norman and Claire are trapped in a truck as it plunges into a deep lake. Norman calmly grabs his wife and holds her in place as the cab fills with water, but the corpse of his victim floats up and takes her revenge, holding onto Norman as his wife swims to the surface.

The Boy (2016)

The boy is a dark and twisted tale that very casually throws in a quite gruesome drowning mid-way through the film. American Greta Evans (Lauren Cohan) travels to England after being hired as a nanny by the elderly Heelshires. But this is no Marry Poppins story, as upon her arrival, the strange couple introduce Greta to her charge: a creepy little porcelain doll named Brahms. The films twist and turns in the best way possible, leaving poor Greta solely in charge of the apparent killer doll, as the Heelshires calmly walk into a lake, holding hands. There must be a better way to get those stubborn stains out?

Don’t Look Now (1973)

Don’t Look Now is one of those deep, psychological horror films that stay with you long after it’s credit’s start to roll up the screen. The films iconography is a heavy presence felt throughout the feature, always with a foreboding foreshadow of the things to come. No imagery can display this better than the opening moments that see a spilt drink bleed the colours of a photographic slide into a dark red streak, as our films protagonists suddenly realise that their daughter is drowning in a nearby lake. It’s a dark and disturbing moment that highlights the terrors yet to come.

Cabin by the Lake (2000)

There are very few films whose plot revolves around the ritualistic drowning of folks, but one that does it so well is the made for TV feature film Cabin by The Lake. The film stars Judd Nelson as a script writer who begins killing girls for research for a movie he is writing. The film sees writer Stanley Caldwell kidnap young girls, torture and interrogate them for insight into how victims feel, before drowning them in the middle of a lake. But the psychotic horror does not stop there. Stanley then revisits his “garden”, dressing up his victims corpse in various gowns and swims around them with coloured shawls in a strange aquatic dance macabre. Despite its tongue in cheek stab at the horror genre, the film managed to get a sequel, Return to Cabin by the Lake, a year later.

Omen II: Damien (1978)

Omen II takes place approximately seven years after the original film, and the son of the devil has grown from a toddler to a teenage boy, still intent on world domination. In one of the most chilliest of horror sequences, we witness a man fall through some ice and drown as a hockey games plays out behind him. The scenes were remarkable shocking at the time, but is considerable subdued compared to some of the other films on this list.

Salem’s Lot (2001)

There are many “blink and you’ll miss them” made for TV adaptation of Stephen King’s work. One of those you may have missed was the completely unnecessary remake of Salem’s Lot in 2004. In a sequence conjured up for the show, and one that makes no sense, Ralphie Glick is drowned by Richard Straker. The human familiar of the vampire Barlow, smashes a hole into an icey lake, and plunges Danny into it, where the boy beats at the ice trying to escape, before drowning. Let’s hope that Barlow does not mind his meals frozen. Maybe they have a giant microwave hidden in the cellar of the Marsten House, to defrost the frozen kid?

Dark Water (2005)

Dark Water is a remake of a 2002 Japanese film of the same name, which follows a mother and daughter who take refuge from a messy divorce in a dilapidated apartment complex. But leaky pipes and dark corridors are the least of their problems, as a strange presence haunts the new tenants. It turns out that a young girl had drowned in the apartments water tower and her body had been left undiscovered for years.

Friday the 13th Series

The Friday the 13th Series is a long running slasher franchise whose very roots grow from a tragic drowning. A young Jason Voorhees is left unsupervised at Camp Crystal Lake, leading him to fall into the lake and drown. Whilst he returns for every sequel, the man that cannot die does end up back under the water in several films, including part Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, where he is chained to a bolder and dumped into the middle of the lake.

Cape Fear (1991)

Cape Fear is a remake of thriller from 1962, about a Lawyer from North Carolina who is tormented by a recently released convict he once defended. For the 1991 effort, director Martin Scorsese set Robert De Niro against Nick Nolte in a psychological battle of minds. The films climax takes place on the river of Cape Fear where ex con Max Cady (De Niro) attacks lawyer Sam Bowden’s (Nolte) family on board a river boat. Crazed Cady underestimates the family and finds himself handcuffed to the sinking boat as it slowly falls into the blackwater river. Shouting in tongues and thrashing about in the murky depths, Cady’s final moments sees him starring angrily at his nemesis lying on the muddy bank, as the ex con slips slowly under the water. It’s a haunting performance from De Niro, one that saw him nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars that year.

“Hello Horror Fans -It’s like my Grandpa used to say ‘Don’t let things drag you down! Fight them off with a big stick!’. If youre unsure of the water, just keep away from it. The sea, a lake, a puddle…just say no! Keep DRY now folks…and I’ll see you next time! 

Keep Rotten”

“Morti” The Mortician