The new Final Destination movie is upon us and it had me curious as to what the best death scenes in horror history are. Sure, some of these are ‘givens’ and ‘no-shits’ with their obviousness in terms of iconic status in the genre, but others are just so outlandish (and cool) that they must be mentioned. Don’t even ask why there are three Wes Craven films on this list. On with the show (after the jump). (and beware of massive SPOILERS).
Halloween (1978)
Knifed into a Wall
Halloween may very well be my favorite horror movie of all time. John Carpenter really outdid himself on his breakthrough film of 1978. He not only captured an eeriness of the slasher genre that hadn’t been accomplished before (or since for that matter), but he created some of the most amazing moments with his cinematographer Dean Cundey to not just scare—to actually terrorize you. The signature moment in this movie—and possibly the coolest death scene in the whole series—is the surprising Michael Myers jumping out of the pantry and knifing some dude to the wall. Shocking and creepy especially when the killer stares at his victim and slants his head.
Psycho (1960)
Who Dropped the Soap?
Of course Psycho is on this list. How can you leave out one of the most favorite death scenes of all time?! Janet Leigh is held up in this hotel after robbing her employer, showering of course, and murdered by an unknown figure—who rips the shower curtain aside and knifes her to death. For the time period, this amount of skin being shown mixed with the grotesque slashing of the music and the cuts (literally) of how many times the actual knife protrudes down is incredibly cool to watch.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Johnny Depp Sucks
Before Johnny Depp was the poster boy for Hot Topic we all know (and loathe) one of his first major roles was Glen from Nightmare on Elm Street. You know, the one with Freddy Krueger who goes around peoples’ dreams butchering them in their sleep? Either way, his lazy ass is supposed to stay awake long enough to help out his neighbor (and love interest) Nancy who’s plan is to take care of said booger man. (Boogey man is soooo 90s). Anyhoo, he falls asleep, Freddy gets him, and Depp turns into a literal menstrual flow. Using amazing technology at his fingertips, Wes Craven crafted a stunning death scene where Depp is sucked into his bed before being shot out as blood. Sick (and nifty!).
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Nice Hanging Out With You
A hippie van full of…hippies…stops in this remote part of Texas and come across a family of cannibals with a crazy dude who wear stretched skin as a mask (Leatherface) and loves his chainsaw in the creepiest ways possible. Like in all slasher films, these kids are ceremoniously dealt with in mean and crude ways that are far removed from a lot of the other stuff of the genre. Aside from the brutal sledgehammer scene that makes me cringe every time, I think that the hook sequence is pretty outrageous. Leatherface takes this girl (who’s squealing with agony) and shoves a meat hook into her back. Whoa, man—this is an awesome and disgustingly intense scene shot by Tobe Hooper.
Creepshow (1982)
Cockroaches!
Creepshow was this very cool movie made up of little vignettes that had equal parts Stephen King and George R. Romero. The film has a cool little selection of shorts in it, but the one that always got me (and is still really neat) is “They’re Creeping Up On You”. It’s basically about this hermit guy who lives in this insanely clean apartment and hates everyone. He prides himself on killing cockroaches before these said cocks get their revenge. I can’t even begin to tell you how nasty his death scene is, but it’s ingenious. While it may not have aged tremendously in the realistic special effects department, it’s incredible and gross.
The Wicker Man (2006)
Burn, Nicholas Cage, BURN.
Okay, this one may be a stretch, but it needs mentioning. Based on the 1973 film by Robin Hardy, this remake from 2006 by Neil LaBute is quite possibly the worst movie ever made in the history of film. Nicholas Cage goes to this secluded community, blah blah blah, ends up getting sacrificed for the harvest, blah blah blah. The movie sucks so bad. You know what’s really cool though? Aside from Cage dressing up as a bear and attacking women?!?! His awesome death scene where he screams fake-like at the tops of his lungs as he’s being burned alive in this humongous wicker man. Sure, it’s not necessarily a scary movie, but this death scene is one of the best things ever shot.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
Rude Awakening
You know the drill: Jason Voorhees starts attacking unsuspecting campers in hopes of keeping morality intact for the hearts and minds of the world. Part VII sucked—that’s to be said as a fact, but it did feature, in my humble opinion, the best death scene of the entire franchise. Voorhees takes this poor girl in her sleeping bag and bangs her repeatedly … (for emphasis) against a tree until she’s a big broken enchilada of misery. It’s such a surprisingly chilling and cold moment in the series and definitely one of my top picks in terms of originality and viciousness.
28 Days Later (2002)
Cillian Murphy Bashes a Head In
Danny Boyle created such a fantastic film with 28 Days Later. He literally overturned the very fabric of zombie movies that George Romero started so long ago and made something pretty awesome for us to stew over. After a movie of fried nerves, interesting post-apocalyptic images, and some super scary and cool ‘zombies’ (infected ragers…or something) we hit the real monsters: other humans. Cillian Murphy, the lead character, eventually ends up being among the zombies to foil these asshole g-mens’ plans to repopulate the earth and when he catches up with one of the worst of the lot he bashes that dude’s brain in like a motherfucker. Coupled with the intense music and emotion that’s playing out all the way through and the fact that his friend Naomi doesn’t know if he’s infected, makes this one to check out if you haven’t seen it before.
Scream (1996)
A Night in the Garage
Scream was Wes Craven’s newest STAB (hey-oh!) at the slasher genre after a string of failed attempts at getting back into the genre he re-evaluated the state of slasher cinema and redid it with a heavy emphasis on 90s culture. Coolio! The results were pretty cool to say the least (despite the sequels) with the original being a really fun horror movie to enjoy. While some killings are pretty tame (aside from the super cold intro with Drew Barrymore), the one that really sticks out is the ridiculous kitty door scene where a big-boobed Rose McGowan is trapped in the garage with the killer. She tries to escape…out the damn kitty door. If you were at all surprised, this did not work for her as the killer flipped the switch that raised the garage door, thus crushing this girl’s head. Don’t get me started on the physics of the scene, but I will talk about how funny and zany this whole death is.
Deadly Friend (1986)
A Game of Hoops Goes to Her Head
One of Wes Craven’s lesser known films, Deadly Friend is getting widespread acclaim now years after its release because of the most famous scene from it: the basketball scene. Forget Cronenberg’s Scanner's with the head explosion …actually, scratch that, DON’T forget that scene. This one is pretty stunning to say the least where a feminine robot this guy built throws a basketball into this old lady’s head making it erupt into pieces. Talk about outlandishness, but this scene is hilarious! While the rest of the movie isn’t as remarkable, this set a really cool precedent on how stupidly a movie could incorporate such a cool special effect.
There you have it. Go out and watch these movies if you haven’t seen them already. If you haven’t make your own death scene. Whoa, that was tongue in cheek!
© Jason Haskins, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment