Top 10 Legendary Horror Movie Kills

Let’s roll up our sleeves and take the plunge.

10. In Gremlins the eponymous creatures give the neighbor Mrs. Deagle a shock of Christmas Spirit the neighbors will never forget. They supercharge her chair lift on the stairs and see her hurtling upwards…and then flying out the upstairs window. It’s ridiculous and silly, with no gore, but it’s utterly memorable to anyone who watched it young. Good riddance Mrs. Deagle!

9. Tatum Riley in Scream is the more risqué final girl of this film whose got to go in this slasher satire. But just how she goes is one for the ages. At first thinking the masked and robed man in the garage is a joke she soon realizes he’s all too serious. She puts up a fight with the freezer door and nails a beer bottle to his crotch, but her ultimate failure lies in her escape route. Unable to get through the door inside she tries to crawl out the doggy door. Too bad she’s just too big. She’s caught and crushed as the door goes up.

8. In Jason X the first death is by far the most memorable. After having been frozen cryogenically for years Jason wants his revenge. The first woman he sees gets a face full of liquid nitrogen, gruesomely freezing over her face. And then of course he smashes it to little red bits. Hey, how would you feel waking up in the future? You might feel a little grumpy too.

7. In 2008’s The Happening there are many grisly deaths due to the toxin plants release to make humans kill themselves. (Yes it’s a crazy premise; yes it’s sometimes hilarious). But the worst way to go has got to be the Lawnmower Man. Setting his own mower up to mow him down he lays down in front of it and hardly moves as it roars over him, presumably cutting him to pieces.

6. In a movie series known for its unique and frightful deaths, Final Destination 3, manages to take the cake with its elaborate tanning bed deaths. With a sequence of unbelievable events, including a falling broken shelf, a coat rack, a slushy drink, and an air conditioning unit, among other things, the tanning beds end up burning the two vapid young women to death as glass breaks and fire explodes.

5. Zombie movies often prove to have particularly ghastly deaths with characters being torn apart, shot, or hacked with machetes, but Zombi 2 (AKA Zombie Flesh Eaters) contains one particularly cringy kill. After moving to put a dresser in front of a door, a woman stops to catch her breath, but of course a zombie reaches through a convenient hole in the door and grabs her by the head, pulling her through as she gets a big piece of wood right in the eye. With a sickening detailed prop eye we see every gory detail.

4. After a teammate seems to have a heart attack characters rush in to save him in The Thing. Unsuspecting, the doctor rolls up his sleeves and uses the defibrillator to no avail. On his second go the chest cavity opens up with jagged teeth and bites off his arms. What a way to go. The detailed gore props are iconic for their realism.

3. As Johnny Depp’s character catches up on his sleep in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy takes advantage and literally drags him into his mattress, taking his bedding and TV with him. Then we’re left to wonder what’s been done to him as gallons upon gallons of bright blood pour up out of the hole left behind and soak the ceiling in red. A scary sight for any mom to walk into.

2. In Scanners the iconic exploding head has to make this list. As a presentation of his telekinetic powers Darryl Revok concentrates on a man’s head, causing him to squirm and eventually making it explode as brains fly everywhere. As it’s at the beginning of the movie, it definitely sets to tone.

1. This is probably the most iconic horror movie death of all time. In Alien no one suspects there is an alien baby lurking in their crew member, but as he chokes and struggles at the dinner table the crew gathers around to help. The moment the baby Xenomorph bursts out of his chest will forever remain in cinematic history as the genuine reactions from the cast round out a wonderfully horrific death.

And that’s the list! Think we missed any good kills? How about that trombone death in The Town that Dreaded Sundown? Or the guy who gets cut instantly to cubes in Cube? Let us know!