By Faith McQuinn

Some movie geeks remember movie quotes. I remember movie deaths. Bloody, gory, unusual or just plain memorable—there have been a plethora of great deaths on screen dating all the way back to THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC in 1928.

What better way to get your mind off your crazy family and the holiday headaches then thinking about how people meet their demise! I’m a gruesome kind of person, I know. But you’ve got to admit to yourself there are times when you’ve seen a character bite the big one, and you couldn’t help but think, “Wow, that’s the way to go.”

Please remember that a great death in a movie doesn’t necessarily make for a great movie. In fact, some of the best deaths are usually seen in some of the worst movies. This list, though, is a pretty eclectic collection.

Oh, and just in case you didn’t figure it out already, there are many spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned.

1. The Wicked Witches in THE WIZARD OF OZ
A classic movie with two unusually memorable deaths has to top the list. Death by bucket of water is classic. Every person who has a sense of movie history knows what you’re quoting when you say, “I’m melting.” Most people, though, don’t think about how the Wicked Witch of the East met her demise. Yes, the ruby slippers and those striped stockings are an iconic image, but let’s just think about the cool factor for a moment. This woman died because a house landed on her. What are the odds?






2. Carl in FARGO
First his buddy axes him to death, and then poor Carl gets a very unorthodox burial. Peter Stomare stuffing Steve Buscemi’s foot into a wood chipper is possibly the funniest gruesome image I’ve ever seen in a movie. The hilarity of it definitely outweighs the gruesome because not until after the fact do I really think about how disgusting it would be to stick a person in a wood chipper.  I mean, could you imagine the coroner cleanup? Ew.






3. Everyone on the ship in GHOST SHIP
The scary opening sequence set aboard a luxury ocean liner. It’s a quiet evening and everyone is on deck enjoying a cocktail party. Then a mysterious hand unleashes a thin cable that slices everything and everyone on board.

Many people have been sliced in half in movies, but not usually an entire ship of people and never this fast. Watching the lone survivor, a little girl, looking at all those bodies would be heartbreaking if GHOST SHIP wasn’t such a horrendously bad movie.




4. Russell Franklin in DEEP BLUE SEA
Not only is Samuel L. Jackson taken out by a really big, really smart shark. He’s taken out in the middle of the movie in the middle of a very Samuel L. Jackson kind of speech.

When this movie came out, I was working at a theatre. It was so entertaining to watch the audience’s reaction that I would time my breaks to watch the death scene over and over again. Yeah, I’m that person.





5. Zander Barcalow in STARSHIP TROOPERS
I’m really not sure if this is a great death because a bug sucked out Patrick Muldoon’s brain, or if it’s a great death because I no longer had to see the Zander character on screen. I think I’m leaning more towards the actual sucking.

The death by brain bug may have been the best death in the movie, but STARSHIP TROOPERS is full of some great ones. Heads are shot off, a man’s lower half is eaten by a bug, and many, many people are torn apart. It’s gross. It’s bloody, and it’s campy as hell.



6. Kane in ALIEN
Just as THE WIZARD OF OZ is a classic with iconic deaths, so too is ALIEN. John Hurt has the most famous bellyache to ever be captured on film. The emergence of that alien from his innards is truly disgusting and still succeeds in making my skin crawl. Supposedly, the crew’s bewildered reaction is real. Director Ridley Scott didn’t tell anyone what was going to happen to Hurt on that table. Talk about method. Check out the scene below.