The movies' most visceral DEATH SCENES...

Dick · 07-03-2006, 06:48 AM

How about limiting this to other than slasher movies. I am talking about heart-rending death scenes that occur to characters you care about, or which are so disturbing and realistic that they cut right through any insensitivity you might have built up through years of watching violent screen deaths. AGAIN - PLEASE NO SLASHER FILMS.

Some of my choices (spoilers ahead):

1] (Most recent): The final assasination in MUNICH, in which home-made "pop guns" are used to kill a female who, practically naked, tries to talk her killers out of the act. Suddenly, two small spots appear on her neck and she wanders across the room as if in a trance. What does she do? She goes to her pet cat and silently cuddles it, as if to say goodbye. Then she goes to a chair and falls into it, at which time blood gushes from the neck wounds as she tries to breath. She is then killed with a final pop to the head. This woman was only onscreen for a short time, between an earlier sequence and this one, but the way this killing was filmed was terrifying to me - the victim (who was responsible for the death of one of the Israelis), reacted in such an unexpected way that it simply became immeasurably powerful.

2] Jack Lemmon's death in THE CHINA SYNDROME. Here is a character we have come to care deeply about - his has been the sort of crisis of conscience we have all felt at times but which only a few of us have the guts to act upon. The suspense during the ending sequence, as Lemmon tries to articulate to the world (via news camera) that the nuke power plant he has worked in for many years has deliberately covered up evidence of compromised welds, even as a swat team is on its way into the control room to take him out (at the behest of one of the plant's owners), is excrutiating. The moment Lemmon is shot in the back as he runs toward the camera caused me to literally jump out of my seat in the theater and shout (the only time I ever did this).

3] To state the obvious, the mother's death in BAMBI - off-camera, yet.

4] Kevin Spacey's horrifying and convincing death in OUTBREAK.

5] SPARTACUS' death - Kirk Douglas crucified and not even able to speak to his lover. Alex North's gorgeous score helped to make this pretty powerful.

I'll think of more and add them later...

Your choices?

Michael:M · 07-03-2006, 07:34 AM

While it does feature the cheesiness of his "Freeeeeeeedoooooom!" cry, the torture and death of William Wallace in Braveheart always gets me squirming.

We may want to categorize these a bit, as I am sure many horror movies have some incredibly visceral death scenes that other movies (especially mainstream action and drama films) can't compete against.

I know that I find any depiction of death that is primarily about sound - as when we hear the person dying screaming or breathing funny, etc. - extremely disturbing.

Lou Sytsma · 07-03-2006, 07:40 AM

1) Boromir - FOTR
2) Earth - Return to the Planet of the Apes - also off camera

Greg Kettell · 07-03-2006, 07:47 AM

Mellish having the knife slowly eased into him in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

Richard Kim · 07-03-2006, 10:14 AM

The killing of the female assassin in Munich was definitely unsettling and very disturbing.

I'd also like to add the "curbing" scene in American History X.

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todd s · 07-03-2006, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Kettell

Mellish having the knife slowly eased into him in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

This to me is the worst.

Todd Terwilliger · 07-03-2006, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Kettell

Mellish having the knife slowly eased into him in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

Another vote for that scene. It's the first thing I thought of when I read the topic of the thread.

One more: HAL's "death" in 2001.

DavidPla · 07-03-2006, 12:01 PM

Forrest Gump - Bubba

The Fellowship of the Ring - Gandalf and Boromir

Scream 2 - Randy

Simon Massey · 07-03-2006, 12:34 PM

Quote:

I know that I find any depiction of death that is primarily about sound - as when we hear the person dying screaming or breathing funny, etc. - extremely disturbing.

I would say one of the most disturbing deaths I have scene occurs to a character in Haneke's Funny Games (1997). It would do a disservice to the film to describe what happens, suffice to say that all of the violence takes place offscreen and is only heard through sound. It is this plus the apparent mundanity of what the camera is focused on, as well as the aftermath that make this extremely difficult to watch.

Francois Caron · 07-03-2006, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Kettell

Mellish having the knife slowly eased into him in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

Same here. I sold my copy because I just couldn't handle that scene anymore. It got worse after each viewing.

The other death scene that leaves me shaking is the "Cleaner" scene in "Nikita" (the original European version, not the hack-job American remake).

Brook K · 07-03-2006, 02:39 PM

That was the first one that sprang to mind for me too Simon.

For something that happens onscreen, Fox and His Friends , a total violation of the peace we like to hope that death brings.

Or for something people might actually have seen

, Pvt. Pyle in Full Metal Jacket and the girl in Grave of the Fireflies