Top 10 Most Brutal Sci-Fi Movie Deaths
#10: First Scanner
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“Scanners” (1981) Have you ever wondered what’s to blame for the disgustingly realistic head explosion in “Scanners?” Well, we’re here to tell you. In the 1981 horror/sci-fi classic, a company called ConSec recruits telepathic individuals to help fight a group of other telepaths. At a ConSec demonstration of how telepathy, or “scanning” works, this group’s leader decides to show off. The scanner leading the event ultimately has his head blown up in scarily realistic fashion. Apparently, all those little pieces of brains were latex, wax, a lot of “stringy stuff,” and of course, good old-fashioned hamburgers.
#9: Alderson
“Cube” (1997) This brutal death perfectly fits the movie’s title. The 1997 sci-fi horror movie starts us right off with a disturbing sight. An unknown man called Alderson finds himself stuck in a cube. We don’t know how he got there, but we know that he’s probably not going to get out. When Alderson is exploring the cube, he walks into a different room, much to his peril; he’s sliced to bits by a wire, cutting him into tiny … well, cubes. Alderson was not long for this world. Goodbye, friend. We hardly knew ye.
#8: Dr. Frank Poole
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“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) When it comes to freaky deaths, Stanley Kubrick has it down. Just take a look at Dick Hallorann in “The Shining.” While Dr. Frank Poole’s death in “2001: A Space Odyssey” might not be the goriest, it’s definitely one of the most harrowing. After the artificial intelligence that controls the spaceship, HAL, tells Frank and his partner Dave that there’s a malfunction on the ship, they decide to turn HAL off if he turns out to be wrong. Unfortunately for them, HAL catches on to their plan. When Frank steps out into space to repair the ship, HAL uses a pod to hurtle him away. The sequence is shot in almost complete silence, leaving us with nothing but our thoughts as Frank struggles, then falls still and drift away into empty nothingness,
#7: Marlena Diamond
“Cloverfield” (2008) You’d think the gnarliest kill in a monster movie would be the actual monster giving someone the business. Well, think again! This found footage film follows a group of desperate survivors as a monster and its parasites attack New York City. During a fight with these parasites, one member of the group, Marlena, gets bitten. Whatever she contracts is a lot worse … well, anything on Earth. While at a makeshift hospital, Marlena’s condition worsens. After her eyes start to bleed, it’s all downhill from there. Doctors take Marlena behind a sheet, where her entire body bloats up and explodes. We’re glad we didn’t see that one in full view.
#6: The Swimmer
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“Under the Skin” (2013) It’s one thing to be killed brutally, but it’s another to be totally lost and confused while it’s happening. “Under the Skin” is a frustrating and compelling film that never gives you all the answers, even when it comes to death. At one point in the film, Scarlett Johansson seduces a man into coming home with her. But when they get there, she leads him into a strange, liquid void. While floating through the mass, the man meets another straggler that Johansson has kidnapped. When he tries to make contact with the other man, the man’s body caves in in an extremely upsetting sequence.
#5: Baron Harkonnen
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“Dune” (1984) It’s always satisfying to see villains get their just desserts. But when the server in question is just a little girl? It’s even better! At the end of David Lynch’s cult classic “Dune,” Paul and his allies launch one final push against the evil Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. But it’s not Paul who has the last laugh against the villain. It’s his little sister Alia. Alia is able to lure the Baron to her before dealing him a mortal wound and pushing him out into the desert. He swirls away into a sandworm’s maw while actor Kenneth McMillan delivers some A+ death screams.
#4: Eldon Tyrell
“Blade Runner” (1982) Ridley Scott’s iconic classic features more than its fair share of brutal deaths. Getting shot through sheets of glass is no picnic. But we’re not here to talk about Zhora. We’re here to talk about the showdown between Roy Batty and Eldon Tyrell. Tyrell is the CEO of the company that makes replicants like Batty. When Batty meets his maker, he tells him that he longs for more than his four-year lifespan allows. Tyrell tries to get him to see the silver lining. And in response, Batty kisses his creator. But it’s a kiss of Judas, as he then presses Tyrell’s eyes into his skull. That’s one tear in the rain we could probably all do without …
#3: Emil Antonowsky
“RoboCop” (1987) Here’s a pro tip. If you’re driving a truck and you see a giant vat labeled “toxic waste,” maybe try to avoid it. While chasing RoboCop, Emil Antonowsky makes that fatal error. He runs his truck hard into the vat of toxic waste, and stumbles away from the wreckage as his body starts to droop and fall apart. Honestly, toxic waste and disintegration would be bad enough. But things are about to get worse. As Emil stumbles through the streets, he’s hit by a car and promptly explodes. Can we call that OVERkill?
#2: Seth Brundle
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“The Fly” (1986) Most of the deaths we see in science fiction movies happen fairly abruptly. Not a lot of directors have the audacity to kill their main characters slowly over the course of the whole movie. Meet David Cronenberg. In 1986’s “The Fly,” Jeff Goldblum stars as Seth Brundle, a scientist who begins morphing into a fly after an experiment gone wrong. Throughout the film, his body deteriorates. His fingernails fall off, he begins vomiting onto his food, and his entire body loses its handsome, Jeff Goldblum-esque appearance. At the end of the film, when Brundle has gone almost full insect, he begs his girlfriend Ronnie to kill him. She obliges, resulting in one of the grossest, saddest deaths we’ve ever seen.
#1: Kane
“Alien” (1979) Come on! You knew it had to be this one. Ridley Scott’s “Alien” is a sci-fi/horror masterpiece, equal parts terrifying and intriguing. It’s well-known for a lot of things, but one of the most memorable scenes is undoubtedly this incredibly grisly death. After being attacked by a creature on an alien planet, Kane passes out. When he wakes up later, everything seems to be just fine. Until it’s not. During light-hearted conversation over dinner, an alien suddenly explodes out of Kane’s chest, killing him instantly and running away through the ship. Yeaaaaah that creature from earlier was not just ‘hugging’ your face.
