*Keep up with our ongoing end of the decade coverage here*
Of all the many reasons we adore horror, spectacular character deaths rank high among them. One solid, gruesome kill can go a long way in a horror movie. It’s an art form perfected by the slasher, but all horror movies embrace the art of grisly and elaborate death sequences.
It’s been one hell of a decade for horror, not just in emerging new voices and box office records, but in memorable moments of gore. We’re closing out the decade by celebrating the best kills horror had to offer. The most creative, most outlandish, most jaw-dropping kills that seared into our horror-loving skulls.
These are the top 10!
10. Upgrade – Kitchen Killer
If there’s one thing horror has taught us, it’s that anything within grasp can make for a decent weapon. When Grey (Logan Marshall-Green) breaks into the home of one of the assailants that left him paralyzed, a battle breaks out. Grey’s no fighter, though, so he finally gives STEM permission to take over. The fight takes over the small kitchen, and STEM grabs anything and everything he can to use against his opponent. The dishes get destroyed in the mayhem. Then STEM grabs a kitchen knife. A typical stabbing would’ve sufficed, but STEM decides maybe his opponent could use a bigger mouth.
9. Annihilation – Not Your Average Bear Mauling
Everything inside the Shimmer is weird; the alien environment absorbs flora and fauna and mutates it in often unnerving ways. The most terrifying of which is the screaming bear. Its ghastly appearance rivals the haunting way in which it steals the voice of its last victim. It first attacked the base camp and mauled Cass to death off-screen, her mutilated corpse found later. But the bear tracks the core group, following them to strike again. This time it mauls Anya to death, and we get to see every excruciating second. It doesn’t end pretty.
8. Final Destination 5 – Gymnastics Pretzel
The entire Final Destination franchise centers around creative kills made even more visceral by the unbearable tension that builds while we try to guess the how and when. The death of gymnast Candice is an absolute series highlight. The suspense winds tighter and tighter as we watch Candice avoid potential death over and over again during her practice. A sharp screw on the balance beam. A puddle of water on the mat next to a power cord on the fritz. Eventually, all of the ill omens become an unfortunate chain of events that leaves Candice in bone-splitting pretzel form after an unfortunate dismount from the high bar. Brutal.
7. Hatchet II – Swamp Bifurcation
The Hatchet series boasts no shortage of crowd-pleasing kills at the hands of swamp boogeyman Victor Crowley. Yet it’s the final major death of the 2010 sequel that earns a spot on this list. A showdown between Crowley and Rev. Zombie (Tony Todd) results in Zombie getting severed in half. Crowley has always been on to revel in excess, of course, and so he grabs the exposed spine from Zombie’s torso and yanks, effectively skinning him alive. Zombie might have had it coming, but ouch.
6. Apostle – Purification Ritual
Gareth Evans’ 1905-set folk horror tale brings the bloodshed and violence in gratifying ways. The crowning achievement of horrific deaths is the mean-spirited purification ritual of poor Jeremy, who’d just witnessed the aftermath of his lover’s death by forced abortion at the hands of her father. The girl’s father captures Jeremy and straps him to a torture table to perform a soul-cleansing rite in front of the congregation. What makes this one so noteworthy is the way Evans puts the viewer in Jeremy’s perspective as the clamps squeeze his skull so tight that we see blood vessels burst and hear the painful crunch. Then a hand-cranked drill graphically carves out a hole in the crown of his head. It’s unflinching and oh so painfully slow.
5. Hereditary – Self-Decapitation
Ari Aster’s debut offered not one, but two shocking decapitations. For pure shock value, Charlie’s death by telephone pole is the more memorable of the two, bolstered by a glimpse of the decayed aftermath. But it’s the self-garroting demise of Annie that’s far more chilling and vicious. Possessed, Annie hovers in the air, staring her son down as she seesaws piano wire back and forth against her throat. Slowly, at first, growing faster as the flesh gives way. The visual of it would be enough, with her frozen expression and blood spurts, but it’s the repulsive sound that it makes that gets under your skin.
4. Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich – Money Lender
By design, this reboot aims to offend and assault the senses with a slew of endless gory deaths. Many of which plead their case for earning a spot on this list. From the beheading into the toilet bowl to the puppet that carves out his human-sized vehicle to puppeteer, the creativity of kills is a raucous highlight. But none hold a candle to the taboo-shattering death of a pregnant woman by Money Lender. The evil puppet claws his way into her womb and tears its way out of her stomach with her fetus in tow. Killing children, let alone babies, is one of the biggest cinematic taboos, and Puppet Master gave it a blood-splattered middle finger.
3. Saw 3D: The Final Chapter – Reverse Bear Trap
From the very first Saw, the Reverse Bear Trap captured our attention. The cruel nature of it, and the equally punishing way in which Amanda Young escaped it. Jigsaw created endless traps and puzzles for his victims; all brought severe levels of pain and suffering. Yet it was the Reverse Bear Trap that kept popping up again and again, including a harrowing moment in Saw VI that had Detective Hoffman barely escaping it, and not without injury. Finally, in the series’ seventh outing, we got to see the trap claim its first on-screen kill. Poor Jill Tuck didn’t deserve to die that way, if at all, but man was it a seriously satisfying payoff after being teased with this trap for six movies.
2. Evil Dead – Chainsaw meets Abomination
The climactic showdown between Mia and the Abomination is a bloodbath for the ages. Literally. A downpour of blood marks the Abomination’s arrival, and it doesn’t relent for a single second of Mia’s fight for survival against the Taker of Souls in Mia form. It’s an epic battle that sees limbs lopped off with chainsaws and Mia ripping her own hand off to free herself, and it all culminates in Mia taking a chainsaw to the Abomination’s face, slicing it into two. This kill is an insanely bloody and impressive conclusion to one of the decade’s goriest films. Bravo, Mia.
1. Bone Tomahawk -Troglodyte Nutcracker
For much of the runtime, S. Craig Zahler’s feature debut plays like a standard western. Until the cruel final act, that is. No one was prepared for how brutal the cannibalistic troglodyte clan was until they’re captured and made witness to the decade’s most shocking demise of all. To summarize: poor Deputy Nick is pulled from his cage, naked, and scalped. They hammer his scalp into his throat through his mouth. Held upside down with legs spread open, the savages slowly chop away at him from the crotch to the abdomen. He’s pulled apart, like cracking pistachios. All the while, his muffled screams of pain signal that he’s still conscious for most of this.
Honorable Mention: The Collection – Blood Rave
Sorry, Saw franchise, but Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton just decimated your death count with this insane opening kill. The Collector rigged several traps in the club full of unsuspecting partygoers, which are triggered in quick succession. Massive rotating blades mow down the dance floor, while everyone else is maimed or crushed by other traps. It’s excessively bloody, with limbs and viscera splattering the walls and floors. At least 70 people slaughtered in one fell swoop. And to think, this is just the opening scene of the film!
