Clocking Out: 10 Horror Movie Victims Killed on the Job

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (Trancas International)

We’ve all had terrible days at work, but the horror genre is always there to remind us that things can always be worse. While we expect horny teenagers to eat it in horror films, oftentimes some of the innocent victims who wind up killed along the way are just ordinary, everyday workers just trying to do their jobs. Let’s take a moment to look at ten of the most memorable examples of horror movie victims killed on the job.

NOTE: Because cops, soldiers, and medical personnel die so frequently in horror films, those kinds of professions will be exempt, as each could easily have lists of their own. I’m also only allowing one victim from each horror franchise to be included, otherwise Michael Myers would completely dominate this list.

1Bucky, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (Trancas International)

We’ll start with the one I consider to be the greatest horror movie victim of all time. In Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, the residents of Haddonfield find themselves in trouble when a familiar mask-wearing maniac returns for another killing spree on Halloween night. Hoping to make his massacre a bit easier, Michael decides to shut off the town’s power by heading to the local power plant.

This is where he meets Bucky (Harlow Marks), the night shift worker who is in no mood at all for Halloween shenanigans. Bucky sternly scolds Michael for bothering him at work, reminding the murderer that he’s trespassing on city property. Because Michael doesn’t respond, Bucky calmly informs him that he’s going to call the police, and that Michael better not even think about leaving. Really, it’s one of the most hilarious exchanges you’ll ever see in a horror film.

Unfortunately for Bucky, Michael realizes that hurtling the electrician directly into a transformer is an excellent way to kill Bucky while taking out the town’s power at the same time. Two birds, one stone, and all that.

2Pizza Boy, The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

The Slumber Party Massacre (New World Pictures)

The Slumber Party Massacre follows a group of high school seniors throwing a slumber party one night, unaware that serial killer Russ Thorn is on the loose in the neighborhood with a power drill. As Russ uses the power tool to decimate the girls’ friends and neighbors, they spend the majority of the night partying away, unaware that there’s a madman committing mass murder right outside — that is, until they order a pizza.

After a bit of waiting, the girls are ecstatic when the pizza finally arrives. Their excitement turns into sheer horror when they open the door, as the pizza boy (Aaron Lipstadt) — still standing upright and holding the pizza box in his hands — appears to have had both of his eyeballs drilled out. He falls forward into the home, and the girls pull his body inside so they can close the door and lock it.

No one should have to go this way while just trying to make a buck, but at least the pizza boy didn’t die in vain. Although their lives are in danger, one of the teenage girls eats some of the pizza, humorously uttering, “Well, life goes on after all.” He might have died, but the delivery boy certainly did his job.

3Sanitation Worker, F13 Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1988)

Jason Takes Manhattan (Paramount Pictures)

In the eighth Friday the 13th movie, Jason finally leaves Camp Crystal Lake by hitching a ride on a cruise ship and ending up in Manhattan. Because Jason can be a little impatient, the majority of the killings take place on the boat on the way to New York. By the time the ship docks, most of the teenagers on the trip are dead, and the few survivors hope to escape by fleeing from Jason in the city.

Eventually, Rennie and Sean are the only two survivors left from the cruise ship, and Jason ignores thousands of New Yorkers with his sights set on only capturing these two teenagers. They retreat into the sewer, where they meet a sanitation engineer (David Longworth) working the night shift. He informs them that the sewer will be soon be flooded with toxic waste and proceeds to guide them towards an exit. That’s when Jason appears from nowhere, using a wrench to bash in the poor guy’s skull.

Look, you could argue that the teenagers in the film were fair fodder for Jason, as they began the film by sailing through Jason’s territory on a boat. The other native New Yorkers killed in Manhattan — the junkies who tried to sexually assault Rennie —- most definitely had it coming. The man in the sewer, by contrast, was just an ordinary fellow trying to do his job. Essentially saving Rennie and Sean by pointing them in the right direction, the sanitation worker also died a hero — even if he wasn’t aware of it.

4Jason Reed, Graveyard Shift (1990)

Graveyard Shift (Paramount Pictures)

If you’re working the graveyard shift in a Stephen King movie called Graveyard Shift, you’re doomed from the start. That was the case for poor Jason Reed (Jonathan Emerson), who found himself working the night shift at a textile mill. He quickly realizes that a bad job is made even worse when he discovers the mill to be completely infested with rats.

Initially, Jason drops a rat into a cotton picker, perhaps in an effort to scare away his rodent buddies. He then laments how “desperate for work” he is, suggesting that’s why he accepted the job in the first place. These turn out to be his last words, as a giant bat-like creature shoves Jason into the cotton picker moments later.

Considering the gruesome ways the creature kills its other victims in the film, maybe Jason got off easy.

5Factory Technician, Child’s Play 2 (1990)

Child’s Play 2 (Universal Pictures)

After an electrical mishap at the Play Pals factory brings Chucky the killer doll back to life, the miniature murderer continues his massacre along with his plans to transfer his soul into young Andy Barclay’s body. With Andy now in foster care, his foster sister Kyle must now help keep the child protected as Chucky butchers anyone else who gets in his way.

Eventually, Chucky manages to take control of Andy, forcing the boy to bring him back to the Play Pals factory for the ritual. When Kyle arrives and severs Chucky’s hand, the killer doll replaces it with a makeshift blade. It’s an iconic look for Chucky, although he’s only able to use the weapon to carry out one murder, which occurs moments later.

After Chucky jams one of the machines, a technician (Vince Melocchi) working overnight at the factory climbs inside to get it moving again. After a job well done, he emerges from the machine, only to be greeted with a slash across the face from Chucky. This makes him fall back onto the conveyor belt, with the machine killing the man by shoving plastic Good Guy doll eyeballs into the technician’s eye sockets.

6Kenny Jones, Scream (1996)

Scream (Dimension Films)

In the first Scream movie, the residents of Woodsboro had no idea just how deadly this Ghostface would become. So, when cameraman Kenny Jones (W. Earl Brown) agreed to help Gale Weathers cover a new rash of local murders, he probably had no idea what he was really signing up for. A loyal cameraman, Kenny was really just trying to get by, same as the rest of us.

Kenny was quick to catch on that his life was in danger when he and Gale arrived at Stu Macher’s party to cover the murders. After letting Sidney into his van and realizing that the killer was in the house, Kenny observed on the cameras that Ghostface was about to kill Randy inside. While a coward would have driven away, Kenny instead opened the door in an attempt to save Randy — putting himself directly into harm’s way, with Ghostface promptly slashing his throat with a blade.

Even after Kenny was attacked and knew that he was dying, all that he was concerned about in his final moments were helping Sidney. With his final breath, he uttered the word, “Door” to Sidney, urging her to close the van door before Ghostface can get inside.

7Joe the Plumber, The Beyond (1981)

The Beyond (Medusa Distribuzione)

Lucio Fulci’s cult favorite horror film The Beyond is one of the most well-known titles in the Italian director’s filmography. In the movie, a woman inherits a hotel in Lousiana only to discover that it harbors a gateway to hell. Another character in the film who found this out the hard way was poor Joe (Tonino Pulci), a local plumber who’s called to determine why the hotel cellar has been flooding.

Finding a suspicious hole on the wall, Joe decides to take a closer look when the dirty wall starts chipping way. Things quickly go from bad to worse when a demonic hand bursts from the hole, tightly latching onto Joe’s face. Its fingers then gouge out the plumber’s eyes in a scene that’s rather ghastly. While Joe’s fate in the film is unfortunate, you’ve got to admire the special effects.

8Janitor, Chopping Mall (1986)

Chopping Mall (Concorde Pictures)

No matter how big or small the part may have been, the late Dick Miller always shined in every role. He briefly appeared in Jim Wynorski’s Chopping Mall, a bizarre horror film about mall security robots malfunctioning and attacking teenagers partying inside.

Before targeting the teens, one of the “Killbots” first finds Miller as a janitor who stays behind to mop up a particularly dirty floor in the mall. After the Killbot spills mop water on the ground, the janitor grows irate and begins taunting the machine. He is then electrocuted for his troubles, burnt to a crisp before falling to the ground in a cloud of smoke.

“Thank you, have a nice day,” the Killbot states before speeding away.

9Auto Assembly Line Worker, Christine (1983)

Christine (Columbia Pictures)

Christine, the “killer car movie” directed by John Carpenter and based on the Stephen King novel, is another movie that kicks things off with the death of an employee. When the killer car is rolling by on the assembly line at the factory, the sentient vehicle makes it clear right away that it doesn’t like to be touched, slamming its hood down on the hand of a worker and shattering his fingers.

After the man is led away, another worker (Art Evans) slips into the car with a burning cigar in his mouth. Jamming to the catchy tunes of Buddy Holly, the worker appears to be quite fond of the 1958 Plymouth Fury, growing comfortable enough to let his cigar ash fall onto the seat beside him. Unfortunately for this guy, the feelings aren’t mutual.

At the end of the shift, a supervisor notices that the car is still playing music. That’s when he discovers the cigar smoker’s body inside, having been somehow killed by the supernatural car. It’s not a sin to take a smoke break at work — many of us can relate — but this guy clearly picked the wrong placed to do it.

10Security Guard, Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (Trans World Entertainment)

Working the midnight shift as a security guard at a closed-down amusement park is certainly no glamorous job. As this was the 80s and smartphones were still decades away, there was no listening to podcasts or watching YouTube videos, making each night particularly lonely and boring. Still, someone had to do it, as seen in Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

Towards the end of the film, the Klowns arrive at the park where they encounter a security guard (David Piel) who was just about to dive into his packed lunch. He quickly realizes he’ll be going straight to dessert when a group of Klowns all pull out cream pies, and the guy cautiously asks, “What’re you gonna do with those pies, boys?”

The security guard is then assaulted with a barrage of pies, completely covering his body in cream and crust. A secret ingredient melts the man into a steaming pile of creamy goo on the ground, made complete by one of the Klowns adding a large cherry on top. They might be evil blood-suckers, but even Killer Klowns are still clowns at heart.

There are all kinds of other examples of ordinary workers getting killed on the job in horror films, and these are just ten of my favorites. Which other unfortunate employees come to mind for you? Feel free to add your own in the comments section below!


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