Ten of 2015’s Most Memorable Death Scenes
John Squires
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The final weeks of December are always a time for reflection, and we’ll be doing a good deal of that here on Dread as 2015 comes to a close. This year provided us with no shortage of awesome horror movies, and we’re currently all wracking our brains trying to pick our favorites.
But this post isn’t about the best horror movies of 2015, as we’re getting a little more specific here. We wanted to shine the spotlight on some of the most memorable death scenes of the year – not necessarily all from horror movies – because there’s nothing we enjoy quite like a good kill.
Of course, there are plenty of spoilers down below, but in an effort to ensure that nothing is spoiled for anyone who doesn’t want anything spoiled, we will refrain from posting images of the actual death scenes we’re talking about. So if you haven’t seen a movie we mention, just skip past it.
In no particular order…
1) BONE TOMAHAWK – SPLIT IN TWO
One of this year’s most exceptional treats was S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk, a cannibal-western hybrid that deserves to be included on everyone’s end of the year “Best Of” list. For nearly two hours, the film is a slow-paced character study that very much feels like a traditional western, but oh boy does the horror element rear its ugly head in the final act. This year’s death scenes simply don’t get more shocking than watching a man fed his own scalp and then sliced in half with an axe. It’s realistic, brutal, and as horrifying as horror movies can possibly be.
2) JURASSIC WORLD – IT’S FEEDING TIME
This year was a huge one for hotly-anticipated big screen releases, and Jurassic World more than delivered on its promise of revitalizing the Jurassic Park franchise. The film proved quite controversial for a handful of strange reasons, one of which was a death scene that many felt was a little too cruel for its own good. Zara, Claire’s assistant, is scooped up by flying Pteranodons when all hell breaks loose in the park, and one of them literally feeds her (and itself) to the massive Mosasaurus. Cruel? More like AWESOME.
3) THE FINAL GIRLS – SHE’S GOT BETTE DAVIS EYES
The most beautiful, wonderful, and totally awesome horror movie of 2015, if you’re asking me, was Todd Strauss-Schulson’s The Final Girls, a meta horror masterpiece with a big ole heart. The brilliant premise sees a young girl named Max literally entering the ’80s horror movie her late mother once starred in, allowing her to interact with her mom one last time. Towards the end, Max has to make peace with losing her mom all over again, and her death – accompanied by the song “Bette Davis Eyes” – is one of the most emotionally powerful in horror history.
4) KRAMPUS – SWALLOWED WHOLE
If you didn’t have a blast with Michael Dougherty’s Krampus, well then, I’m just not sure you and I are on the same page. The wacky and highly imaginative holiday horror film is loaded with awesome creatures, and the most frightening is unquestionably the jack-in-the-box monster with a Predator-like mouth. In one scene, the creepy clown literally devours a young kid whole, and though we don’t see all that much of the act, we see enough to impart nightmares. Of course, one could argue that it’s not actually a “death scene,” per se, but that’s another post for another day.
5) THE GREEN INFERNO – BUTCHER’S BLOCK
After sitting on a shelf for two years, Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno was finally released this year, and it was nothing if not a gory slice of exploitation cinema. In a theatrical landscape full of paranormal entities and demonic possessions, Roth’s cannibal flick felt like a blood-soaked breath of fresh air, and though a flawed film, it was nice to see something totally different up on the big screen. In the most brutal scene, the cannibal tribe butchers a character named Jonah, gouging out his eyes, removing his limbs, and then finally cutting off his head. We love you, Eli.
6) BACKCOUNTRY – TENT ATTACK
This past year saw a mini resurgence of the killer bear horror flick, thanks to the films Backcountry and Into the Grizzly Maze. Though the latter movie was fun, it was Backcountry that stole the show. In the film, a young couple head out into the woods to do a little camping, but their fun getaway turns into a horrifying nightmare when a predatory bear begins hunting them. The brilliantly edited scene wherein Alex meets his end is one of the most intense and deeply terrifying horror movie moments you’re likely to ever see.
7) MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – FACE OFF
Death scenes aren’t limited to horror movies, and 2015’s most satisfying came courtesy of George Miller’s action-packed masterpiece Mad Max: Fury Road. The womanizing Immortan Joe is easily this year’s most hateable villain, and the badass Imperator Furiosa one of the most awesome heroes, and watching her finally get her revenge on Joe by literally ripping his face off was a moment that makes us smile just thinking about it. We waited the whole movie to see Joe die gruesomely, and Miller certainly didn’t disappoint.
8) SOME KIND OF HATE – ACCIDENTAL SUICIDE
Slasher movies aren’t exactly known for their originality, but Adam Egypt Mortimer’s Some Kind of Hate put a wonderfully inventive spin on the sub-genre. Set at a camp for troubled youths, the movie gives rise to a new horror icon in the form of Moira, a vengeful entity unknowingly summoned forth by a teenage boy who’s being bullied in much the same way she was. Moira is quite literally a living voodoo doll, and when she inflicts pain on herself, her victims feel it. At one point, one of her female tormentors attempts to shoot Moira in the head, not realizing that by doing so she’s actually shooting herself in the head. Oops!
9) WE ARE STILL HERE – CRUSHED HEAD
Directorial debuts don’t get much more impressive than Ted Geoghegan’s We Are Still Here, a loving ode to ’70s Euro-horror that is one of the very best horror films of 2015. In so many words, it’s about a house filled with paranormal entities that need to feed every 30 years, requiring the town to offer up sacrifices or be completely destroyed. The “slow burn” film goes completely off the rails in the best of ways for the blood-soaked finale, ending with one of the townspeople getting his head crushed between the hands of a white-eyed entity. Lucio Fulci would be proud.
10) TALES OF HALLOWEEN – REVENGE OF THE PUMPKIN
A handful of new horror anthologies were unleashed this year, and the best was arguably Tales of Halloween. Featuring ten segments directed by some of the top filmmakers in the horror game, the anthology was capped off by Neil Marshall’s (The Descent) “Bad Seed,” a short about a genetically-modified pumpkin seeking revenge on the humans who have insisted on carving and gutting his friends for so many years. The segment opens with Wolf Creek writer/director Greg McLean getting his head devoured by one of the killer pumpkins. Yummy.
Did we leave off your favorite death scene of 2015? Comment below and let us know!
