Luck & Horror: Can You Escape Your Fate?

Horror has long played with the concept of fate—an unseen force that binds characters to an inevitable doom, no matter how hard they struggle. Whether it's the unlucky final girl who barely makes it out alive, the group of friends who ignore the eerie warning and press on, or the cursed soul doomed by forces beyond their understanding, horror thrives on the idea that luck is never truly on your side.

March’s Slaughterhouse release, Greed, explores this terrifying inevitability in a fresh and twisted way. In Greed, our so-called heroes find themselves ensnared in a deadly trap of their own making. Their insatiable hunger for more—wealth, power, control—blinds them to the dangers creeping ever closer. And when the walls close in, when the blood begins to spill, their frantic attempts to escape fate only ensure their downfall.

But why does horror so often embrace this theme? Why do we, as readers and viewers, find ourselves both dreading and anticipating the moment when fate finally catches up with its victims?

The Illusion of Control in Horror

One of horror’s greatest tricks is making us believe that there’s a way out—if only the characters were smarter, faster, or made better choices. Take Final Destination, for example. The films thrive on the idea that death has a design, and even if you cheat it once, it will find you in the end. Every escape is only temporary. Every moment of relief is a cruel setup for something even worse.

Similarly, Stephen King’s Pet Sematary is a masterclass in the inescapability of fate. Louis Creed knows he should leave well enough alone, but his grief and desperation push him to tamper with forces beyond his control. The results? Tragic, horrifying, and utterly inevitable. He had all the warnings. He made all the wrong choices anyway.

In Greed, this concept is explored in a new way. The characters are not victims of an external curse or a supernatural force—at least, not at first. Instead, they are trapped by their own vices. Their greed sets the pieces in motion, and once their fate is sealed, no amount of struggle can save them. They claw at the walls, they turn on each other, they beg for mercy, but the consequences of their actions cannot be undone.

Luck Won’t Save You

Horror constantly asks us: Does luck even exist, or is fate already written? When characters survive, is it because they were truly lucky, or did they just delay the inevitable? Laurie Strode may have evaded Michael Myers in Halloween, but she never truly escaped him. In The Ring, Rachel momentarily breaks the curse, only to realize that the only way to survive is to condemn someone else. The horror continues, because fate demands it.

In Greed, luck is fleeting. The characters believe they are in control, that they can outsmart their circumstances. But just like in the most brutal horror stories, the more they fight against fate, the tighter its grip becomes. They are not the exception. They are not special. They are simply the next to fall.

Can You Escape?

The scariest thing about fate in horror is that it mirrors real life more than we care to admit. Sometimes, no matter how much we plan, how careful we are, or how much we struggle, certain outcomes are unavoidable. Horror forces us to confront this uncomfortable truth.

So, can you escape your fate? Maybe. But in Greed, as in so many horror stories before it, the answer is clear: no one gets out alive.

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Greed arrived March 1st as part of the Slaughterhouse series. Are you ready to face the horror of your own choices? Or will you, like the rest, succumb to fate?