Top 20 Unique Horror Movie Kills
#20: Liquid Nitrogen
“Jason X” (2001) Jason Voorhees has creatively utilized many weapons to dispose of his victims. But the most out-there has to be liquid nitrogen. Like we said, he’s very creative. Jason gets the drop on Adrienne in the futuristic spaceship and sticks her head in a sink filled with the aforementioned coolant. Her face instantly freezes past that of a snowman, but just to make sure that Adrienne has been properly disposed of, Jason tests her new look against the countertop. Suffice to say, the countertop wins. Say what you will about the goofy “Jason X,” but it contains a lot of fun kills.
#19: Going for a Ride
Top 10 Unique Horror Movie Kills
“Gremlins” (1984) Poor Mrs. Deagle. The thing meant to make her life easier ended up taking it away. Such is the beauty of irony. After getting scared by some caroling Gremlins, a panicking and out-of-breath Mrs. Deagle takes a seat in her chairlift. However, the device has been tampered with by another gremlin, and Mrs. Deagle goes for the ride of her soon-to-be-over life. The lift rapidly zips up the stairs before launching her out the second-story window. It’s a horrible way to go, but that shot of Mrs. Deagle’s body flying through the air will never not be funny.
#18: Staircase Kill
“High Tension” (2003) This French slasher earned a lot of controversy for its over-the-top violence (among other things), and that is on full display throughout the home invasion sequence. Alex’s father Daniel answers the ringing door in the dead of night, only to be met with a blow to the head. Daniel is left incapacitated, and the intruder is thus easily able to squeeze his head between the uprights of the staircase bannister. It’s then that the intruder grabs a nearby dresser and gets to redecorating, starting with Daniel’s head. The death is quick, but it’s also graphic and disturbing. Props for originality, though.
#17: Defibrillator
“The Thing” (1982) For the most part, the shapeshifting monster of this classic horror film lies in wait and only reveals itself when absolutely necessary. But when it does, you know all hell is about to break loose. In this classic scene, Copper is attempting to revive Norris, who has secretly been assimilated by the Thing. Copper finds this out first-hand (no pun intended) when Norris’s entire chest opens up, revealing sharp teeth, and bites his arms clean off. It’s so shocking that we can’t actually show it all here, yet one still has to admire the ingenuity of director John Carpenter and his brilliant effects artists. In what other movie are you gonna get this crazy kind of action?
#16: The Wicker Man
Another Top 10 Unique Horror Movie Kills
“The Wicker Man” (1973) Few movies end on a bigger downer than Robin Hardy’s “The Wicker Man.” In this classic British film, a police sergeant named Neil Howie travels to a remote island to rescue a supposedly kidnapped girl from a group of pagans. However, it’s all just a ruse to kidnap Howie himself, as he is then sacrificed to the islanders’ pagan gods for a bountiful harvest. And they do so in the most horrifying way possible: by burning him alive inside a massive wicker man. It’s one of the most haunting images in horror history, and it leaves viewers feeling incredibly unsettled. We wonder if it worked...
#15: Spider Eggs
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“The Mist” (2007) “Disgusting” is a good word to describe this death. And if you don’t like spiders… we’re sorry. One scene in Frank Darabont’s classic sees a small group of survivors, in the wake of interdimensional creatures being released upon the town, searching a pharmacy for supplies. What they find instead are bodies strung up by what appear to be spider webs. One, however, is alive, with lesions all over his chest and face. Just when it seems like the situation can’t get any worse, the lesions are revealed to be egg sacs and begin releasing countless spider-like creatures. We’re calling it: being eaten alive from the inside by spiders is not a good way to go.
#14: Father Knows Best
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“City of the Living Dead” (1980) Director Lucio Fulci populated his films with some all-time kills, with this one arguably being his masterpiece. A garage owner named Mr. Ross finds the shady Bob sitting with his teenage daughter in a car and flies into a rage, assuming the worst. After backhanding him, Ross throws Bob onto a table and brings his head closer and closer to a spinning drill. The drill then makes contact near Bob’s ear and ends his life in particularly grisly fashion. We can understand wanting to be a protective parent, but this has to be overkill, wouldn’t you say?
#13: Bad Mattress
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“A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) Any movie involving nonsensical dream magic is bound to have a few creative kills. And while the first “Nightmare on Elm Street” is relatively tame in comparison to its outlandish sequels, it contains what is arguably the most iconic kill of the franchise. A young Johnny Depp plays Glen, who is unfortunate enough to fall asleep while watching TV. This allows the dream-hopping Freddy to grab him through the mattress and pull him down. We don’t see what exactly happens to him next, but the iconic gushing blood that follows fuels our imaginations to nightmarish effect.
#12: Tanning Bed
“Final Destination 3” (2006) No other horror franchise had us tiptoeing around the house quite like “Final Destination.” While a lot of kills in the franchise happen quickly, this one takes its sweet, agonizing time. In honor of their fallen classmates - weirdly enough - two teenagers decide to get some color and go for a tan. However, Death is out to get them and concocts a series of events to trap them inside their tanning beds. The beds then increase in power to the point that they burn the girls alive. This death scene finds a way to combine multiple fears, like pyrophobia and claustrophobia, as it makes for some seriously harrowing viewing.
#11: Death by Sleeping Bag
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“Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood” (1988) The “Friday the 13th” series is filled with creative kills, including the aforementioned liquid nitrogen death. But sometimes the simplest scenes prove the most memorable. Jason’s most appropriate kill comes in “The New Blood,” the seventh entry of the series. After disposing of her boyfriend Dan, Jason kidnaps Judy from their tent. He scoops her up in her yellow sleeping bag, drags her to a nearby tree, and practices his baseball swing with a human bat. As memorable and brutal as this scene is, it was actually cut from six swings to one to avoid an X rating. Darn censorship ruining creativity.
#10: The Glass Pane
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“The Omen” (1976) Mainstream horror films of the 1970s are quite tame by today’s standards, at least in terms of on-screen violence, which only makes Keith’s death that much more shocking. While retrieving some magic daggers in a construction site, Keith suffers a workplace accident via an out-of-control truck and a sliding pane of glass. While it looks kind of goofy today, it’s also a brilliant bit of filmmaking, mixing nasty visuals with the surprise death of a major character to create one of horror’s most memorable sequences. Though come to think of it, it’s kind of like a prototypal “Final Destination” death, don’t you think?
#9: Lawnmower Surprise
“Sinister” (2012) Unique filmmaking can often prove scarier than depicted violence, and that is certainly the case with “Sinister.” After discovering a slew of grisly home videos in his attic, Ellison watches one labeled “Lawn Work.” On it, someone’s head gets run over by a push lawnmower. It’s the movie’s scariest sequence, despite containing no blood or actual on-screen violence. Rather, the eerie use of lighting, the unsettling sound design, and the sharp cut before the violence occurs all work in tandem to create a perturbing atmosphere. It’s highly effective, and one of those cases in which imagination proves far scarier than depicted reality.
#8: Death by Basketball
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“Deadly Friend” (1986) One of Wes Craven’s better known movies, “Deadly Friend” is not. In any case, it’s certainly not up there with the likes of “Scream” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and it’s probably because of ridiculous sequences like this. As it turns out, a basketball can be used to kill someone. Yes, a basketball. Not only that, but they have the power to turn someone’s head into mush with a simple throw. The scene has all the goofy cheesiness of a cheap B-movie, but there’s no denying Craven’s imagination. Only the most ridiculous horror movies could turn a basketball into a deadly weapon.
#7: Eaten by Boars
“Hannibal” (2001) This sequel to “The Silence of the Lambs” sees Gary Oldman play Mason Verger, a victim of Hannibal Lecter’s hellbent on getting revenge for his disfigurement. Verger plans on feeding Lecter to a herd of wild boars, but he becomes their dinner instead when Lecter convinces Verger’s mistreated physician Cordell to turn on his boss. The boars eat the defenseless Verger alive, and viewers are left thoroughly put off by the whole ordeal. For a series invested in the psychology of human beings, the most grotesque death strangely comes at the hands (or mouths) of some primal animals. Funny how that works out.
#6: Death by Leeches
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“Puppet Master” (1989) While released directly to video, “Puppet Master” nevertheless proved popular and launched a franchise. In the first film, a psychic named Frank is sensually tied up and blindfolded by fellow psychic Carissa. However, Carissa is killed by one of the puppets, and another puppet named Leech Woman takes over. Leech Woman gets her name because, well, she regurgitates live leeches, and does so all over Frank, who thinks that it’s Carissa being kinky. He discovers the truth far too late, and his literal lifeblood is drained by the leeches. This entire sequence is like a fever dream filled with horrifying and otherworldly images, and we must commend the filmmakers for their ingenuity.
#5: Amanda Digs
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“Saw” (2004) To be honest, we could put any kill from “Saw” on here, such is the grotesquely imaginative power of the franchise. But nothing beats the original, and in the case of the original, no trap was worse than Amanda’s. Amanda Young is a drug addict whom Jigsaw captures and attaches her jaw to the infamous reverse bear trap. She’s then forced to find the key within the stomach of a sedated man. Needless to say, Amanda proceeds to dig her way to freedom and the man into an early grave. Unlike future “Saw” movies, viewers don’t see much of the violence itself, but what we do get is incredibly disturbing.
#4: Head Explosion
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“Scanners” (1981) David Cronenberg’s “Scanners” isn’t super well known outside horror communities. It’s one of those cases in which one specific scene is more famous than the entire movie, and that scene is a horrifying head explosion by way of telepathy. The practicality of it is fantastic - but also so fantastically revolting that we’ve opted to shield you from the entirety of it for now. It is interesting to know that the effect was achieved by shooting a dummy head with a shotgun, and the results are every bit as messy and propulsive as one would expect. It’s an iconic sequence and has lived on in the form of gifs and memes, which is what every director aspires to, right?
#3: Down the Drain
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“The Final Destination” (2009) You gotta feel for Hunt. All he wanted was to lay by the pool and catch some rays. While relaxing at a country club, a series of events forces him underwater to retrieve his lucky coin. Unfortunately, the pool’s drainage system had been accidentally activated, and the pressure sucks him in and traps him at the bottom. Drowning is scary enough, but then things get much, much worse, as poor Hunt is turned inside out by the powerful suction. Hunt’s death hits that “Final Destination” sweet spot between outlandishly creative and disturbingly plausible, and it’s made even more memorable thanks to the vile 3D effects.
#2: Runaway Cable
“Ghost Ship” (2002) This movie takes the idea of ghost ships literally, and the inciting incident makes for a highly memorable opening sequence. It takes place in the early ‘60s aboard the Antonia Graza and sees a large group of passengers dancing to a lounge singer’s performance. A mysterious person then tampers with a thin wire cord and sends it flying across the deck. The cord slices through everyone like butter and leaves behind a repellent mess that scars a poor little girl, who was too short to be hit. It is beyond eerie, especially the way everyone stands still immediately after but before they… you know. It’s a great scene in an otherwise mediocre movie.
#1: The Chestburster
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“Alien” (1979) The first “Alien” is an undeniable horror classic and contains a legendary death scene. Kane’s entire downfall is just one long nightmare, and it speaks to the horrific imaginations of Ridley Scott and his filmmakers. Kane is first attacked by a facehugger that wraps its tail around his neck and sticks its proboscis down his throat. This in turn impregnates him, and the little baby xenomorph subsequently eats itself free through Kane’s chest. We couldn’t even imagine how that felt; it was tough enough just watching it. And it shouldn’t be surprising that it has a reputation as the most famous death scene in the history of horror cinema.
