A strange question perhaps, but how many characters have you seen die in movies over the years? Hundreds definitely. Thousands? Tens of thousands? And if you’ve seen every single 80s action film, perhaps even more!
But which death from the history of Hollywood strikes you as being the most memorable? The one that horrified, delighted, or amused you the most?
Below are what we believe to be the 10 greatest death scenes in movie history, but be sure to post a comment letting us know which movie death we should have included on our list!
10. Top Gun
One of the most traumatic moments of our childhood was watching Goose meet his tragic end in the classic 1986 movie Top Gun.
Interestingly, Anthony Edwards (who played Goose) was the only actor not to vomit when flying in the fighter jets. Goose’s real name was also never mentioned in the movie, although we know from the script that it’s Nick Bradshaw.
[adunit mobile=”RTK_dVa8″]
9. A Nightmare On Elm Street
The classic horror movie A Nightmare on Elm Street sees a number of teenagers meet a gory end, but there is one death in particular that still haunts us, and it involves Johnny Depp in his first ever movie role.
It was reported that a whopping 500 gallons of fake blood were used during the movie’s shoot. And believe it or not, Johnny Depp only went to the film’s audition to accompany his friend Jackie Earle Haley (who went on to play Freddy in the 2010 remake!)
8. Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
It’s 40 seconds after Alan Rickman’s Sheriff of Nottingham is stabbed when he finally hits the floor, and even then this hilarious death scene is far from over.
Like the greatest pantomime villain of all time, the late Alan Rickman gave us one of the greatest bad guys, and screen deaths, in movie history.
[adunit mobile=”RTK_wCZW”]
7. Scarface
It starts with “say hello to my little friend”, and it ends with Al Pacino hamming it up in probably our favourite movie death of all time.
Try and count how many bullets he takes before he takes a long overdue dive into an ornamental pool. You’ll probably lose count!
6. RoboCop
We got very excited about this RoboCop scene at school. A man, already melting due to exposure to toxic waste, splatters rather easily on impact.
It’s gory and delightful, meaning that the RoboCop VHS got passed around our childhood classroom rather quickly.
[adunit mobile=”RTK_z9hm”]
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Giving us the definition of a true hero, Sean Bean’s Boromir takes one too many arrows to the chest trying to save Frodo and friends in the first Lord of the Rings movie.
Sadly the Horn of Gondor could do little to save Bean, who’s characters die in pretty much every movie that he stars in.
4. Scanners
Here we have a fairly badly acted, but rather brilliantly realistic, exploding head in the amazing David Cronenberg film Scanners.
We remember watching Scanners when we were far too young, how about you?
[adunit mobile=”RTK_dVa8″]
3. Alien
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPQ7om598OM
The subject of many a parody, as John Hurt gets a bit of indigestion in Ridley Scott’s classic space set horror Alien.
Famously, Hurt’s fellow actors didn’t know how much gore would be involved, meaning that their reactions were totally genuine!
2. Thelma & Louise
Despite having a somewhat downbeat ending, Thelma & Louise has proved to be a big influence on other films, and is considered to be ‘a landmark of feminist film’.
It has also been revealed that a different version of the ending was made where you could see the car falling to the sounds of B.B. King’s ‘Better Not Look Down.’ Of course, in the final version the car is frozen in mid air before the credits roll.
[adunit mobile=”RTK_wCZW”]
1. Deep Blue Sea
Finally we have a classic scene from 1999’s Deep Blue Sea, where Samuel L Jackson starts a rousing speech before being swallowed by the giant shark.
The special effects may seem dated by today’s standards, but we remember being completely shocked and grossed out by this scene when we first saw it in the cinema!