Movies in which a character has a fate WORSE than death.. hero OR villain!

[retrorussell]

What instances can you think of in a film where a character doesn't die (this can be a horror film or otherwise) but endures a really, really bad situation where death might be preferable!  This could be a violent rape (ugh), painful torture after which they still cling to life, some sort of incredibly humiliating, brutal act they have to undergo, a painful sacrifice they commit to in order to save someone/their own life...?

One I often think of on this topic is the ending to the pretty bad movie THE PREY (shot in the late 70s but released in the 80s) in which the mutant killer ends up raping with the final girl (fortunately offscreen) to produce a child, whose first cries of life are chillingly heard at the end of the film.

What else can you think of?

[Rev. Powell]

OLDBOY comes to mind.

[zombie no.one]

how about the guy in the Monkey's Paw segment of TALES FROM THE CRYPT

[chainsaw midget]

The ending of In the Mouth of Madness comes to mind. 

[RCMerchant]

Anybody in a Hellraiser movie. Who wants to got threw (un)life as a teeth chattering monster or have nails in your head for eternity?
For that matter- the Frankenstein Monster in the old movies- where he don't die until he meets f**king Abbott and Costello.
I mean, he was set on fire 4 times, blown up, fell into a pit of boiling sulpher, sank in quicksand,....that's a lot of s**t to go through before you  finally DIE.

And he's not really a bad guy- he's just so ugly folks f**k with him. Like the weird kid on the school bus.

" What? Again? This sh!t is getting old!"

[zelmo73]

Clarence Beeks from Trading Places (1983). I always wondered just how long that he had to endure the savaging from the gorilla after the movie was over. 

[claws]

The ending from Upgrade (2018)

[Gabriel Knight]

General Zod and his gang in SUPERMAN. According to Wikipedi: The Phantom Zone is a prison dimension used by Kryptonians. It was originally discovered by Jor-El and used by the Kryptonian Council as a humane prison. Although the zone is a barren wasteland, people trapped in the zone can never get old or die, and can see outside of the zone and watch the events of the outside world.

That sounds like one of the worst possible fates for any conscious being.

[beat_truck]

The male characters in the sappy made for TV Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel are definitely facing a fate worse than death.

[Alex]

Kiefer Sutherland's character in Mirrors. Trapped alone in a mirror realm.

[retrorussell]

A girl has her spinal cord severed in WOLF CREEK.  I believe she is left alive but completely paralyzed.

[chainsaw midget]

The dad from The Mist. 

If he had just waited a moment longer ...

[Allhallowsday]

FREAKS  (1932)
 
   

[kornula]

While not a movie, I find it super tragic when both Fry thinks his dog has forgotten him when he stops the recloing process.   We find out that Seymour died waiting for Fry to return....  I cannot watch that episode of Futurama ever again because it's so f**king sad.

[kornula]

The male characters in the sappy made for TV Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel are definitely facing a fate worse than death.

Bam