It’s hard to forget your first kill. Depending on the looseness of your childhood upbringing, the first movie death you witness typically stays with you in one way or another. These are major plot points for movies like Die Hard and Star Wars: A New Hope, keeping the stakes high throughout. Elsewhere, you might be creeped out or horrified by the exploding head in Scanners or any of the kills in the Terrifier series. And finally, there are just a few that tug on your heartstrings, like John Coffey’s execution in The Green Mile. Losing a character you have grown to love or loathe on screen leaves a mark on a person at several stages, with the possibility existing that they could be toppled from the list at any point. Creative kills and memorable screen demises are not in short supply.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Meandering back through my memories brings quite a few haunting demises to focus. It’s a list that could change daily if you make it a habit. And even then, you’ll likely overlook screen deaths that others can’t stop thinking about. These stick to you like a parasite, dug in deep, and help to mold you as a content consumer. Take a scroll down for 10 movie kills that still haunt me and plenty of others long after they’ve watched them.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead for several movies, so proceed with caution.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day – Finger Spike Through the Eye
An on-screen death that double dips and doesn’t disappoint is the liquid metal spike kills the T-1000 commits while hunting down John Connor. The first spike kill is John’s stepparents, with his stepdad Todd taking one to the back of his throat.
The memorable kill happens during the hospital escape when the liquid T-1000 camouflages into the checkered floor to sneak up and kill a security guard. Portrayed by twins Don Stanton and Dan Stanton, the scene mixes CGI and practical effects in terrifying fashion that stabs you through the eye and doesn’t quit.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter – Raft Kill
Arguably the best entry in the Friday the 13th series, The Final Chapter features several iconic kills and one horrifying dance by Crispin Glover. But Sam Lane’s death on the raft, after skinny-dipping in the middle of the night, sticks with me for one specific reason. While the kill itself is creative enough and harkens back to Jason Voorhees’s own demise in the first film, it’s the sound work that does it.
Yes, the music hits at the proper moments, but the guttural sound that Lane (Judie Aronson) emits sells it as both a haunting end for a character just looking for some nighttime lake skinnydipping romance and also an unintentional comedic moment due to the performance. Memorable nonetheless.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space – Dinosaur Shadow
When I was a kid and ignorant of most horror films, Killer Klowns from Outer Space held a place as a horrifying nightmare that kept me up after sneaking a watch after the video store. Disgusting, contorted clowns going around town turning people into cotton candy juice bags, melting people with pies and much more never sat well with me growing up.
[RELATED – 7 Most Memorable Kills in the Friday the 13th Franchise]
Now looking back, you quickly realize the movie is just having fun, it isn’t taking itself seriously. It also has some creative kills, like the shadow puppet dinosaur that eats the group of old people. At the time when I was young, this was essentially like watching my grandparents get eaten up. Today, I remember it because people didn’t question a grotesque-looking clown making shadow puppets in a dark alley. Are they dense and deserving of the punishment? We will never know.
Final Destination 2 – Log
This one should be an obvious entry. You could pick any number of deaths from the Final Destination films, fake or real, as related to the story. The memorable openings to the films provide no shortage of memorable deaths and mayhem, typically denoting the order in which they will meet their demise later in the movie.
In the second entry, a massive log truck loses its load and causes a highway crash that would make the Avengers pause for a moment. But it’s the moment when a log falls from the truck and blasts through the windshield of Officer Thomas Burke (Michael Landes), turning him into red mist. It ruins holiday travel right off the top, and then makes you question all of those times you tailgated a large semi-truck.
Bone Tomahawk – Bisection
S. Craig Zahler’s horror western can be a slog, but it can’t be denied that it features some of the scariest monstrous bad guys in recent memory. After our heroes, led by Kurt Russell, are captured by the cannibal natives, shunned by other tribes due to their monstrous nature.
While Kurt Russell gets a boiling hot canteen under his skin at one point, Deputy Nick gets the brunt of the punishment. He’s stripped, scalped, bisected and then eaten by the cannibals, all right in the middle of the scene. It’s similar to something you’d see in Cannibal Holocaust, but the story is far better. Not for the faint of heart, though.
Neverending Story – Artax’s Death
While most of the other deaths on the list are violent and bloody, this one hits hard for other reasons. Artax is the loyal steed and friend to Atreyu, the main character of the book read by Bastian Bux in the film. As they make their way through the Swamp of Sadness, Artax begins to sink after he is overtaken by the sadness. It drags him down, with Atreyu frantically pulling and trying to rescue the horse to no avail.
It’s bad enough as it is to see any animal die on screen. John Wick murdered an entire syndicate just because his dog was murdered, need I say more? But here it is presented as a silent struggle that just won’t relent despite the hopes of the viewers and readers. Thankfully, the movie didn’t follow the source material exactly and left all the horse’s lines and thoughts out. We don’t need to hear Artax giving in to futility and death, it is already scarring enough.
Saving Private Ryan – Mellish’s Death
Some of these deaths are hard to watch, while others are hard to live with. Mellish’s death from Saving Private Ryan falls into the latter category, which is impressive about a movie revolving around war and sacrifice. We lived through the horrors of D-Day, the sniper fire, the battles, but the hardest part comes when it’s just two men and a knife.
The scene also has a harsh throat shot kill, but the slow struggle that just ends when the knife slowly enters Adam Goldberg’s chest is what cements it as hard to watch. I don’t think I’d want to actively watch it right now. Even a clip on YouTube I stopped before the very end.
Casino – Cornfield Beating
This one is another childhood memory. I’m not a psycho, but I was sent out of the room after my brother got Casino on VHS and almost got to the end of the movie without incident. Then Joe Pesci and his on-screen brother are led into a cornfield for what they assume is a meeting, but are quickly corrected after a bat cracks his knee.
While it’s fun to look back and know Pesci breaks his rib for the second time on the roll into the grave, the thing that sticks with you here is the sound. That bat sound against meat just continues until there’s no sound at all but Pesci crying over his brother, looking up, and then taking one last salvo against his head. They switch to a dummy by this point, especially once they throw dirt on the body.
RoboCop – Melted Emil
Paul McCrane has a history of playing bad guys and hard asses that end up dying horribly in the line of duty. On ER, he plays a doctor who can’t seem to work around helicopters as they chop his arm off and later crush him in a separate accident. In RoboCop, his time as Emil M. Antonowsky ends after he’s covered in toxic waste and melted.
Similar to the next death on the list, McCrane’s tortured mutated melting pot of a man ends with a juicy pop after Kurtwood Smith runs him over with his car during an escape. All of this concludes an oddly long journey for the character across a few moments in the finale.
Akira – Kaori’s Death
There is no shortage of death and weird, messed-up visuals in the Akira anime. While the manga is superior given the expansive nature of the story, the animated film manages to be a classic as well. One is the horrifying transformation by Tetsuo in the finale and his unintended murder of his love interest, Kaori.
Her time in the story is short, but her demise is memorable. While Tetsuo mutates and grows gigantic near the end, Kaori is sucked up into the mass until she is crushed and pops like a grape. The gush of blood drives it home, this innocent girl never stood a chance.
What do you think are the most memorable movie kills? Let us know in the comments below!
